UPDATE: EG4H-supported campaigns

We’re currently supporting 2 campaigns focused on different aspects of the global economic governance system:

Financing global health: The ROBIN HOOD TAX campaign

The Robin Hood Tax is a tiny tax on banks, hedge funds and other finance institutions that would raise billions to tackle poverty and climate change, at home and abroad. It can start as low as 0.005% – and average 0.05%. But when levied on the billions of pounds sloshing round the global finance system every day through transactions such as foreign exchange, derivatives trading and share deals, it can raise hundreds of billions of pounds every year. You can find out more – and pledge your support – here.

Institutional reform and transparency: the UNITED NATIONS PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY (UNPA) campaign

A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly would, for the first time, give citizens direct influence over global policy. Issues such as global health, environmental sustainability, international development and globalization could be discussed in an open, transparent and democratic forum. You can find out more here – and pledge your support here.

We regularly lend our support to new campaigns, so please check back for details.

What is Economic Governance?

Economic governance is about how economies are run.

Most people understand it in terms of policies (like privatisation), regulations (like the TRIPS agreement on intellectual property) and the institutions (like the IMF, World Bank and WTO) that affect how the global economy runs on a day-to-day basis. Institutions are really important: on a national level, economic governance is done by the finance ministries and central banks, but on an international level, it is done by three institutions:

  1. The International Monetary Fund (IMF): works to prevent global economic collapse. It lends huge sums of money to countries in economic trouble, but only if the recipient countries adhere to a strict conditions about how they run their country.
  2. The World Bank: works to reduce poverty. It gives out grants for projects, but only to countries who have been IMF approved.
  3. The World Trade Organization (WTO): works to facilitate global trade. It pushes for things like protection of patent rights, and a world where there are no trade barriers.

Economic governance is also about less tangible things like norms and principles – which involve the way in which politicians, institutions, grass-roots organisations and individuals think about the global economic system and how it should operate.

Why does Economic Governance matter for health?

Both rich and poor countries enjoyed rapid improvements in living standards and health in the decades after World War II, but their paths have diverged markedly since the 1980s. The pace and extent of improvement in health in rich countries is now vastly greater than that in most poor countries.

The current global economic system (and the power structures that support it) appears to be largely responsible for emergence of these immense, economic and health disparities between rich and poor countries over the past 25 years. In the words of a landmark report published by the World Health Organisation in 2008: “This unequal distribution of health-damaging experiences is not in any sense a ‘natural’ phenomenon but is the result of a toxic combination of poor social policies and programmes, unfair economic arrangements, and bad politics” (WHO 2008 Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, p.1).

Why is reform of global economic governance needed?

The implication of the findings of this report – as well as evidence from a wealth of recent academic research – is that shifts in the global economy after 1980 were the product of a series of deliberate policy decisions taken through global economic institutions – principally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The wealthiest countries in the world (and the powerful financial interests they represent) dominate all of these global economic institutions, and have presided over the implementation of policies that favour the rich, with predictably detrimental results for the poor.

To rectify this situation, wholesale reform of global economic governance systems is required.

What reforms are needed?

If we hope to achieve global health equity, we must first restore democracy and fair play to global economic governance. Put simply, “it is imperative that the international community re-commits to a multilateral system in which all countries, rich and poor, engage with an equitable voice. It is only through such a system of global governance, placing fairness in health at the heart of the development agenda and genuine equality of influence at the heart of its decision-making, that coherent attention to global health equity is possible.” (WHO 2008 Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, p.19)

What does this mean?

Well, firstly, existing institutions of global governance (especially the G20, WTO, and IMF) must step aside in favour of a “New Bretton Woods” process – one grounded in inclusiveness, equality of voice, transparency and accountability. Secondly, we need to strengthen the role of established health institutions, such as the WHO, in global issues that affect both health and the global economy. The WHO has significant problems of its own when it comes to representatives and transparency, but it remains the global institution with the greatest potential to secure economic policies that take account of global health.

Third, we need a far better understanding of the inter-relationship between regulations (e.g. for trade) and health. Ideally, all existing and proposed trade agreements should be assessed for their likely impacts on health – and policies modified accordingly.

Finally, we must change the way we think about global economic governance. Many of the institutions, policies and regulations currently in place are no longer fit for the global health challenges now emerging. Mark Malloch-Brown, formerly under-secretary general at the UN, has revealingly said that “there is almost no sensible debate about how to manage a runaway world…when the global level has become largely a laissez-faire space that allows those who operate in it to choose which, if any, national jurisdiction they will subject themselves to on what issue”.

So what can I do?

Bringing about these changes is challenging – but there is no better time to get involved than now. The Financial Crisis presents us all with an unprecedented opportunity to push for a more equitable system for economic governance for health.

Here are some ways you can get involved in driving this:

  1. Get informed… The best place to start is probably our website which brings together a wealth of information on this topic – with links to more online material. Those with more time to spend can check out Globalization and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz, the Global Health Watch 2 report by the People’s Health Movement (available free here, or the final report by the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health (available in full here).

  2. Support campaigns… Global economic governance reform is a vast area. We are currently supporting several campaigns targeted at reform of various aspects of the system. You can find more details of these campaigns in the update section at the top of the page.

  3. Get recruiting… EG4H is a network bringing together members of the health community worldwide – including students, clinicians, nurses, managers, academics and policymakers. If you join us, you will have a direct role in shaping what we do. For instance, you could:

  4. Become the EG4Health rep for your university
  5. Organise a talks and events at your medical school
  6. Join our Facebook page (available here) and invite fellow health students
  7. Push for it to become part of the syllabus of a global health Student Selected Component/Unit/Module (SSC/SSU/SSM)

Further information

EG4H branches currently exist at:

  • Glasgow
  • Imperial College London
  • Manchester

For more information, please feel free to contact the Medsin campaign coordinator at sharif@eg4health.org.

Recent news about the Economic Governance for Health campaign

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Last updated on Saturday 18 June 2011 at 17:28