Alternatives to Centralized Global Health Governance

Our research focus is divided into five pillars:

National Health Governance (Moving Beyond the "Global")

Decolonizing Global Health to restore sovereignty.

Empowering National Leaders in regions of the world.

A new model for assisting low-middle income countries.

Polycentric and Networked Governance

Scrutinizing global health as a system of multiple, overlapping, and independent decision-making centers.

  • Comparing Polycentric Models

  • Stakeholder influence and accountability, e.g. NGOs.

  • Non-State Actor Influence

Community-Led and Bottom-Up Approaches

Research explores strengthening local, community-based systems rather than relying only on state or international intervention.

  • Resilience and Local Mitigation: Studying how individuals, families, and communities mitigate health crises without external aid to identify self-organizing mechanisms.

  • Integrating Traditional Systems: Investigating how to better incorporate community members into local health system design to improve responsiveness.

  • Localizing Research Capacity: Focusing on training and retaining researchers in developing countries, allowing them to define their own needs rather than reacting to global agendas.

Governance of Specific Emerging Threats

Risks posed by the One Health agenda

Digital Health Decentralization: Analyzing the challenges of fragmented digital systems (e.g., vendor lock-ins, interoperability) within decentralized, polycentric healthcare models. 

Accountability and Power Dynamics

Addressing Power Asymmetries: Examining how to structure international health governance in a multi-nation state approach.

Financing and Accountability: Investigating the impact of international financial institutions (IMF/World Bank) conditionalities on the ability of low-income nations to fund their own health priorities.

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