142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

307538
Health policy compliance: When do countries take on new policies advocated by global policy networks?

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 2:42 PM - 2:54 PM

Kathryn Quissell, MPH, MSc, PhD Candidate , School of Public Affairs, Department of Public Administration and Policy, American University, Washington, DC
Scholarship on global social movements has identified multiple factors that influence movement success: the ability of global and domestic networks to mobilize attention and resources, network strategies, the relative openness of the policy process to civil society input, and the number of policy gatekeepers that can prevent or facilitate policy action. However, even when controlling for these factors, there are important differences in how countries respond to pressure for health policy change. This study examines why South Africa has been more compliant with global tuberculosis policy recommendations than AIDS policy proposals.  South Africa was selected because it is a high-burden country for AIDS and tuberculosis, and it has been the target of global campaigns for both diseases. To investigate this issue I conducted approximately 35 interviews with South African policymakers, civil society organizations, and representatives of global policy networks, and analyzed around 300 policy and advocacy documents, government statements in response to civil society pressure, and political speeches on AIDS and tuberculosis. Initial results indicate that global social movements for AIDS and tuberculosis used similar strategies in their attempt to influence policy, both used scientific evidence and negative normative pressure to shame South Africa for its policy shortcomings. Divergence in compliance was not related to strategy but to alignment (or misalignment in the case of AIDS) between social movement and government narratives on disease origin, risk, and responsibility. These findings suggest that the resonance of disease narratives among policy gatekeepers is a key factor in the effectiveness of social movements.

Learning Areas:

Advocacy for health and health education
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe the factors that contribute to the success of health social movements Compare the effectiveness of AIDS and tuberculosis social movements in South Africa Evaluate the role of disease narratives in policy compliance

Keyword(s): Advocacy, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the primary investigator on several studies of global health advocacy and policy, including a study of the effectiveness of the Global Partnership to Stop TB and a cross-national quantitative assessment of the impact of stigma on the scale-up of treatment for AIDS and TB. My primary research interests include the role of stigma in health policy design and implementation and the politics of health policymaking at the global and domestic levels.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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