On Thursday 13 November, Professor Anna Gilmore spoke at the 18th European Public Health (EPH) Conference and presented on a new paper, 'Tackling the political and commercial determinants of health in a new geopolitical era'.
“For much of the late twentieth century, health transcended politics. Health was a shared aspiration, an area of shared human concern that could unite people within, and across countries. That era has ended.
"In a highly fractured geopolitical landscape, health increasingly reflects and reinforces global divisions,” write Professor Gilmore and co-authors Sandro Galea, Dean of Washington University's School of Public Health, Alison Maassen, EuroHealthNet Programme Manager, Caroline Costongs, EuroHealthNet Director, and Ilona Kickbush, Founder and Chair of the Global Health Centre, in an article published in a special issue of EuroHealth, to accompany the EPH Conference in Helsinki.
In their article, the authors discuss key approaches to navigating this challenging landscape, including:
- transparent yet strategic leadership
- well-being-focused economics
- accountability
- informed public engagement, and
- interdisciplinary leadership through effective public health diplomacy
As the authors conclude, "Tackling the political and commercial determinants of health is no longer a technocratic exercise; it has become a geopolitical imperative."