The Global Health Architecture: Governance and International Institutions to Advance Population Health Worldwide

Abstract

Policy Points Global health institutions and instruments should be reformed to fully incorporate the principles of good health governance: the right to health, equity, inclusive participation, transparency, accountability, and global solidarity. New legal instruments, like International Health Regulations amendments and the pandemic treaty, should be grounded in these principles of sound governance. Equity should be embedded into the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from catastrophic health threats, within and across nations and sectors. This includes the extant model of charitable contributions for access to medical resources giving way to a new model that empowers low‐ and middle‐income countries to create and produce their own diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics—such as through regional messenger RNA vaccine manufacturing hubs. Robust and sustainable funding of key institutions, national health systems, and civil society will ensure more effective and just responses to health emergencies, including the daily toll of avoidable death and disease disproportionately experienced by poorer and more marginalized populations.