An introduction to the ultimate preference to non-optimal solutions in global health governance.
A recurrent problem in global health governance is the return to 'formalized stupidity'. The major actors in global health repeatedly make the same mistakes, or shall we say, intentionally misbehave by e.g. adopting quick fixes, too-little-too-late approaches, as has been seen in this pandemic and the many others before COVID-19.
We would not be in this situation had it not been for such maniacal behaviours. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of COVID-19, there will be a return to all the initial conditions that led us to this point. Less and less attention will be paid to the social determinants of health, health inequality, serious health investments in preventive measures and improved work conditions for the frontline health professionals.
It maybe recalled that in the beginning of this pandemic even in the so-called advanced countries the frontline workers lacked the necessary personal protection equipment. In developing economies the rhetoric will continue as priorities are misplaced and health systems keep weakening.
As a quintessential feature of manias, power asymmetry makes it harder for weaker actors to actually change the institutional conditions that produce structural inequalities in global health governance.
Another problem that keeps haunting global health is that despite the good intentions of some governments, policy makers and corporations, the value of human lives, in many cases, is accounted for only after profits and the relevance of certain actors.
Ahen, F. (2021) From Ebola to COVID-19: What explains institutionalized manias and the ultimate preference for non-optimal solutions in global health governance. critical perspectives on international business (forthcoming).