Rethinking the 'global' in global health: a dialectic approach.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Current definitions of 'global health' lack specificity about the term 'global'. This debate presents and discusses existing definitions of 'global health' and a common problem inherent therein. It aims to provide a way forward towards an understanding of 'global health' while avoiding redundancy. The attention is concentrated on the dialectics of different concepts of 'global' in their application to malnutrition; HIV, tuberculosis & malaria; and maternal mortality. Further attention is payed to normative objectives attached to 'global health' definitions and to paradoxes involved in attempts to define the field.

Discussion

The manuscript identifies denotations of 'global' as 'worldwide', as 'transcending national boundaries' and as 'holistic'. A fourth concept o

SUBMITTER: Bozorgmehr K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2987787 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature