Online Program

Oral

Purpose:This proposal explores application of the principles and practice of “Global Health Diplomacy” (GHD) in building public health policy capacity by advocating for “health” in all foreign policies; ensuring health equity in foreign policymaking decisions; and ensuring the right to healthcare access. The panel will involve a multidisciplinary mix of proposed prestigious invited speakers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of Global Health Diplomacy, the NGO Partners-in-Health, and academia (University of California, San Diego.) The overall theme of the session is cross-cutting and focuses on the practical application of GHD in areas including social ecology and analysis of complex policy systems, ensuring social justice as a core element of health policy, and addressing the health impact of violence originating from international conflict by prioritizing GHD. The panel will use a combination of presentations that: (1) identify core principles of GHD; (2) demonstrate their practical application among GHD stakeholders; (3) describe GHD’s use in advocacy-based approaches to critical public health problems; and (4) presentation of original research on GHD topics. Relevance:A decade ago, the concept of linking global public health and diplomacy did not exist. Now, GHD is featured as a topic in nearly every global health conference, supports two peer reviewed academic journals, and is featured prominently as a dedicated section in several public health institutional web sites. With the plethora of academic and institutional interest in this emerging area of multidisciplinary study, key GHD stakeholders - including the U.S. Government, NGOs, researchers and academia – need to better facilitate the development of strategy, programs, and/or activities that clearly help link global public health objectives with foreign affairs objectives. Specifically, public health problems such as violence from conflict and war, ensuring protection of the human right to health, and achieving social justice by promoting health equity and healthcare access, are all impacted by a complex social-ecological environment that involves the interplay of individuals, communities, civil society, nation-states, and global society, all stakeholders that can practice and promote GHD for the betterment of human health. Importance:This special session in GHD seeks to identify opportunities for GHD engagement among all public health stakeholders with the focus of capacity building, GHD advocacy at various levels of the social-ecological environment, and with the overall goal of ensuring “health in all FOREIGN policies” in alignment with the APHA 143rd Annual Meeting theme. This will be accomplished by inviting a dynamic group of high-level speakers actively engaged in GHD (including Ambassador Jimmy Kolker - Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs at HHS) and an examination of several GHD topics including: the role of PEPFAR as a GHD tool; core educational competencies in GHD training; the role and strategy of the U.S. Government in promoting GHD in the international fora, and the application of GHD principles for the current public health crisis in the Ukraine. Collectively, this program will provide APHA members with an important overview of GHD; describe core competencies of GHD education; detail application of GHD from the perspective of an NGO and the U.S. Government; and describe a methodology for GHD policy research in the context of a current public health crisis. The importance of this session is its relevance to the APHA meeting theme, incorporation of APHA’s overarching priorities, and its cross-cutting application to health policy areas.

Session Objectives: Describe and identify core principles of Global Health Diplomacy (GHD) Demonstrate the practical application of the practice of GHD among various public health stakeholders Formulate education, training, and research methodologies for the advancement of GHD and the overall goal of ensuring health in all "foreign" policies