Global Health Governance and Tropical Diseases

This chapter introduces the structures and institutions that enable the international coordination of efforts to tackle tropical diseases. After summarizing the unique challenges of health governance at the global level, the chapter provides some historical context. The colonial roots of tropical medicine are explored in order to explain how and why modern intergovernmental institutions such as the World Health Organization have developed. We then introduce the major approaches to financing and delivering global health projects targeting tropical diseases: the vertical and horizontal approaches. Finally, we explore the rising presence of public–private partnerships – a relatively new institutional format in global health governance – and the parallel rise of private authority within global health governance; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is highlighted as a predominant example of this phenomenon. Finally, the chapter introduces the major international legal apparatus for tackling global health emergencies: the International Health Regulations (2005).