Introduction to the Symposia on Global Health at a Crossroads

At the World Health Organization’s (WHO) founding in 1948, about a third  of the world’s population were subject to colonial domination and rule.  Since then, a central issue has been whether the field of global health  can make a substantial break from colonialism, class hierarchies, and  structural racism in health. One of WHO’s foundational principles is  that “the extension to all peoples of the benefits of medical,  psychological, and related knowledge is essential to the fullest  attainment of health.” Notwithstanding this, WHO has not adequately  shaped its health policies toward redistributive ends.

By  examining prior moments where global health found itself at a  crossroads, confronting inequalities in peoples’ lived realities in the  1970s, with a push for universal health, and again in 2015 with a call  for sustainable development, we can historically contextualize ongoing  reform efforts in a continuum of non-transformation. Grounding global  health in reparative and distributive justice frameworks and orienting  the regime to these ends, is essential for emancipatory transformation  in global health.

This symposium engages with recent lawmaking  provoked in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. Contributors’ collective  efforts in Parts I and II examine global health law in action and canvas  key multilateral reforms, exploring emerging dynamics including the  potential for regionalism and decolonization, as well as conceptualizing  and contesting global health’s past and futures.