Conflict has become an integral part of the global health discourse. It is therefore not surprising that as the premier organization to govern health, WHO has had to find ways to navigate messy geopolitics.
In today’s edition, our final story from the recently concluded WHO Executive Board meeting, we bring you up to speed with WHO’s Global Health and Peace Initiative.
The context in which this discussion is unfolding is striking given the simultaneous conflicts in different parts of the world. But laid over the complex dynamics in global health, these conflicts serve to bring into clarity where member states of WHO stand in relation to each other, and in relation to the mandate of the WHO.
Major funders of WHO, are also masters on the geopolitical chess board. But this contradiction does not sit well on the ground, such as in Gaza, for example.
Scholars and practitioners believe that health work is by nature political, and therefore there may not be a way for WHO to deliver on its functions without getting its hands dirty. In other words, WHO, and anyone who works in health, cannot shy away from being political. As one scholar points out: Peace is Political.