According to the World Health Organization, global health diplomacy is an emerging field that bridges the disciplines of public health, international affairs, management, law, and economics, with a focus on negotiations that impact the global policy environment for health.
An increasing number of health challenges can no longer be resolved by state actors only.
While sovereign states play an important role in global health diplomacy, it is also important to consider the value of other key global health actors that impact outcomes, mainly non-state actors.
At the Institute we believe, that global health requires more inclusive multilateral negotiations and needs to involve a wide range of non-state actors.
Institut de diplomatie publique acts as a space to
test,
model, and
scale
successful practices
in health diplomacy providing its resources for thought and analysis to serve stakeholders who develop, implement, or teach all aspects of science and diplomacy.
Join an ever-increasing membership that helps strengthen health diplomacy for the benefit of society, building the capacity to bring together and integrate scientific excellence and expertise from all fields of science worldwide.
As non-state actors become better informed on health diplomacy, they become better equipped to play a bigger role in influencing global health issues and decisions.
Our experience shows that health diplomacy is critical for the implementation of health programmes through complex partnerships. As a multi-stakeholder partnership (SDG 17), members of the Institut de diplomatie publique have been closely involved in a broad range of multilateral processes related to HEALTH DIPLOMACY and sustainable development, and in the ways to maintain good governance of those processes with inclusive opportunities for stakeholder participation.
Many examples show that health diplomacy works and that the alignment of health and foreign policy can generate significant benefits for health. There is an increasing recognition of health as a goal of foreign policy and as a key contributor to development, peace, poverty reduction, social justice and human rights. Health diplomacy can have an important role in supporting sustainable development by addressing health as a social and economic issue of high relevance and in dealing both individually and collectively with health challenges. It can support countries in protecting joint interests and in taking positions on matters of common concern, such as access to health security, health promotion, disease control, access to medicines and technologies, food security, and water. Also, fight against transnational corruption and crimes in public health is dependent on successful negotiations with many players, whose trust has to be gained.
Science is not the sole actor in global health—we must bring ethics to the table if we are to address the global health crises of today and the future.
Public diplomacy—like any negotiation process—cannot simply be about persuading others to accept one’s values, but to reach a compromise. When it comes to something as fundamental as health, the temptation to assume uniformity of objectives is perhaps at its greatest. Ethics help us address this challenge by drawing attention to how different values directly affect different people. Incorporating these perspectives can produce solutions to problems.
Our experience, coupled with knowledge, insights, and extensive networks enable us to offer helpful advice, including capacity building and connectivity to a wide range of stakeholders, including civil society, as they seek to find their own best pathways to effective engagement with international action on sustainable development.
Become involved
Any civil society, academic, private, international or government organisation, network, or individual expert that is active in the field of health diplomacy, is very much welcome to participate in the network. There are several ways to become involved and to contribute to our work.
E-learning
Free Resources
for Health Diplomacy Practitioners and Mid-Career Professionals
All external courses which listed here are recommended by the Institute and therefore offer CPD points.
Self-Assessment Examinations
In order to enable members to prepare as best as possible and to allow checking their own state of knowledge, the Institute has launched online self-assessment exams.
Career Coaching
Coming Soon
