Global health partnerships: The emerging agenda

The globalization of health has led to a tremendous expansion in the number and types of actors and groups taking an active role in addressing global health concerns. The proliferation of government, international organization, private foundation, and non-governmental organization partnerships dedicated to global health issues has significantly increased the amount of resources available and raised the prominence of these issues on the international political agenda. These partnerships show much promise, but their proliferation can also lead to redundancy and create confusion of who is addressing which issues. Without assiduous monitoring and evaluation, it can be difficult to tell which partnerships are successful or whether a partnership is successfully leveraging the strengths and resources of its member organizations. More importantly, the continued global economic downturn poses serious challenges for the ability of these partnerships to maintain operations. This chapter defines global health partnerships, discusses their various forms, analyzes characteristics that promote successful collaborations, and offers suggestions for the future. To provide insight into these issues, the chapter uses the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as a case study for analyzing the successes, shortcomings, and future challenges faced by global health partnerships in the contemporary international environment.