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The anniversary of the publication of Closing the Gap in a Generation (CGG) offers a moment to reflect on the report’s contributions and shortcomings, as well as to consider the political waters ahead. The issuance of CGG was not the first time the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the problem of global inequalities in health. Numerous analysts and advocates have compared CGG to the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata. Some see CGG as a continuation of Alma-Ata; others malign it for paying insufficient attention to the principles, background documents, and lines of action proposed in the Alma-Ata declaration. We might understand the two reports as bookends to 30 years of brutal global capitalism, punctuated by the “lost decade” of the 1980s, the end of the Cold War, and, more recently, the implosion of global finance. This period saw the publication of two seminal neoliberal health manifestos –the World Bank’s 1993 World Development Report and the WHO’s 2002 Commission on Macroeconomics and Health report. Both feature the term “investing in health” in their title, conveying “a double meaning—investing [through “cost-effective,” narrow, technical interventions] to improve health, economic productivity, and poverty; and investing capital, especially private capital, as a route to private profit in the health sector.”

Entre el alboroto causado por la retirada del gobierno de los EUA de la OMS, una cuestión crucial suele dejarse de lado: la influencia antidemocrática que las corporaciones transnacionales, las organizaciones filantrópicas y sus poderosos países asociados, que ejercen sobre la OMS. Sostenemos que esta situación debe ser revertida si se quiere relegitimar el poder y la competencia de la organización.

RESUMO O artigo apresenta as principais questões e os desafios da história e dos historiadores na análise das epidemias e pandemias. Aborda a importância da produção histórica brasileira e latino-americana nesse campo para a compreensão das epidemias como fenômenos globais e suas tendências atuais. Discute a pandemia de COVID-19 na geração de demandas crescentes por análises históricas das epidemias do passado e conclui apresentando os artigos do dossiê.

Despite the global prioritization of addressing adolescent girls’ and young women’s sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and participatory rights, little research has examined their lived experiences in shaping their engagement in SRH decision-making processes in the global South. Further, few studies have explored how structural and societal factors influence their agency and participation. This critical and focused ethnography, informed by postcolonial feminist and difference-centred citizenship theories, conducted in Malawi (2017–2018) elicited perspectives of youth and key informants to help address these knowledge gaps. Our findings show that the effective implementation and uptake of global discourse on participation and gender equity is hindered by inadequate consideration of girls’ and young women’s local political, cultural and social realities. Many girls and young women demonstrate passion to participate in SRH policymaking as agents of change. However, patriarchal and gerontocratic political and social structures/institutions, and gendered and adultist norms and practices limit their active and meaningful participation in SRH decision-making. In addition, donors’ roles in SRH policymaking and their prioritization of the “girl child” highlight an enduring postcolonial power over agenda-setting processes. Understanding young people’s experiences of gendered participation and scrutinizing underlying systemic forces are critical steps toward realizing young women’s SRH and participatory rights.

Abstract The presumed global consensus on achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) masks crucial issues regarding the principles and politics of what constitutes “universality” and what matters, past and present, in the struggle for health (care) justice. This article focuses on three dimensions of the problematic: 1) we unpack the rhetoric of UHC in terms of each of its three components: universal, health, and coverage; 2) paying special attention to Latin America, we revisit the neoliberal coup d’état against past and contemporary struggles for health justice, and we consider how the current neoliberal phase of capitalism has sought to arrest these struggles, co-opt their language, and narrow their vision; and 3) we re-imagine the contemporary challenges/dilemmas concerning health justice, transcending the false technocratic consensus around UHC and re-infusing the profoundly political nature of this struggle. In sum, as with the universe writ large, a range of matters matter: socio-political contexts at national and international levels, agenda-setting power, the battle over language, real policy effects, conceptual narratives, and people’s struggles for justice.

Background: In recent decades, global health scholars and policymakers have highlighted the burgeoning role of South–South cooperation (SSC) in health, claiming it constitutes a more just and even-handed approach to health cooperation. But the assertion that SSC inherently challenges power asymmetries and pursues egalitarian agendas and forms of interaction merits interrogation. Here we explore a transformative, counter-hegemonic, solidarity-oriented form of SSC – social justice-oriented South–South cooperation (SJSSC) – as differentiated from other types of health aid. Objective: The objectives of this scoping review are: 1) to determine what is known and discussed through peer-reviewed and grey literature about SJSSC in health; and 2) to identify the different features and principles of SJSSC. This review seeks to inform research agendas and identify implications for policy and practice around SJSSC. Methods: We conducted a search for relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature in eight languages and screened abstracts that met inclusion criteria. We carried out a full-text review and data extraction on included pieces and conducted a thematic analysis identifying a set of repeated themes related to the features and principles of SJSSC. Results: We identified 188 publications meeting our criteria. Through an iterative process, we developed two overarching categories: values and strategies. Each comprises four themes that allowed us to map the ideas and practices of SJSSC depicted in the literature. The values mapped are: an anti-hegemonic world view; equity-oriented and redistributive political values; egalitarian terms of cooperation; and reciprocity. The strategies encompass: solidarity-building; health justice approaches; mutual exchange and collective justice; and challenging interests of dominant classes in the health arena. Conclusion: This review rectifies ungrounded claims about SSC by identifying and mapping the research literature on SJSSC and has relevance for the conceptualization, policy development, and practice of equitable health cooperation.

Un hombre de negocios estadounidense, ferozmente competitivo y enormemente exitoso vuelve su atención a mitad de su carrera hacia la salud pública mundial. ¿Curiosidad histórica o el actor contemporáneo más poderoso en este campo? Ambas. A principios del siglo XX, la Fundación Rockefeller (RF; Rockefeller Foundation) comenzó a utilizar las colosales ganancias petroleras de John D. Rockefeller para apostar por un papel preeminente en la salud internacional (así como en medicina, educación, ciencias sociales, agricultura y ciencias naturales). Cerca de un siglo después, la Fundación Bill y Melinda Gates (BMGF; Bill and Melinda Foundation), nombrada así por el magnate del software y su esposa, se ha vuelto en la que establece la agenda más influyente en la arena de la salud y la nutrición mundiales (así como en agricultura, desarrollo y educación).

Abstract: Since the mid-2000s, the practice of South-South cooperation in health (SSC) has attracted growing attention among policymakers, health and foreign affairs ministries, global health agencies, and scholars from a range of fields. But the South-South label elucidates little about the actual content of the cooperation and conflates the “where” with the “who, what, how, and why”. While there have been some attempts to theorize global health diplomacy and South-South cooperation generally, these efforts do not sufficiently distinguish among the different kinds of practices and political values that fall under the South-South rubric, ranging from economic and geopolitical interests to social justice forms of solidarity. In the spirit of deepening theoretical, historical, and social justice analyses of SSC, this article: (1) critically revisits international relations theories that seek to explain SSC, exploring Marxian and other heterodox theories ignored in the mainstream literature; (2) traces the historical provenance of a variety of forms of SSC; and (3) introduces the concept of social justice-oriented South-South.

Patterns of child health and well-being in Latin America's past - have been assumed to be delayed and derivative of European and North Americanexperiences. Through an examination of recent historiography, this essay traces a more complex reality: interest in infant and child health in Latin America arose from a range of domestic and regional prerogatives. This attention was rooted in preColumbian cultures, then relegated to the private sphere during the colonial period, except for young public wards. Starting in the 19th century, professionals, reformers, and policy-makers throughout the region regarded child health as a matter central to building modern societies. Burgeoning initiatives were also linked to international priorities and developments, not through one-way diffusion but via ongoing interaction of ideas and experts. Despite pioneering approaches to children's rights and health in Latin America, commitment to child well-being has remained uneven, constrained in many settings by problematic political and economic conditions uch.Modelos de saúde e bem-estar infantis do passado na América Latina têm sido considerados como subprodutos defasados de experiências européias e norte-americanas. Com base em análise da historiografia recente, este artigo apresenta uma realidade mais complexa: o interesse pela criança e a saúde infantil na América Latina origina-se de um conjunto de condições domésticas e regionais. Com raízes em culturas pré-colombianas, foi relegado à esfera privada no período colonial, exceto quanto à custódia pública de jovens. A partir do século XIX, profissionais, reformadores e políticos de toda a região passaram a considerar a saúde infantil fundamental para a construção das sociedades modernas. As iniciativas que emergiram desde então guardam relação também com prioridades e programas internacionais, não por difusão unidirecional mas sim pela interação de idéias e especialistas. Apesar das abordagens pioneiras sobre direitos e saúde da criança na América Latina, o compromisso com o bem-estar infantil permanece irregular, e em muitos contextos cerceado por condições políticas.

Este artigo examina a emergência da política de saúde infantil como uma preocupação global, a partir da perspectiva da interação do Uruguai com a comunidade de saúde pública internacional no início do século XX, e seu papel na circulação das idéias e práticas de saúde infantil. São considerados dois aspectos da interação nacional-internacional: a) a exploração e inter-relação do Uruguai com o panorama internacional de políticas, pesquisa e estudos sobre a melhoria da saúde infantil; e b) a tradução dos debates internos do Uruguai no influente Instituto Internacional Americano de Protección a la Infancia - IIPI, e a oferta e influência de políticas uruguaias de pesquisas e estudos sobre a melhoria da saúde infantil para outros países e agências internacionais de saúde e assistência social.