Decolonizing global health—what does it mean for us?

• Published in: European journal of public health 2023-06, Vol.33 (3), p.356-356
• Main Authors: Forsberg, Birger C, Sundewall, Jesper
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Colonialism; Cooperation; Debates; Decision making; Decolonization; Development aid; Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi; Global Health; Health Sciences; Humans; Hälsovetenskap; Ideology; Income; International conferences; International cooperation; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Public health; Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology; Questions; Viewpoints; Wealth distribution
• ISSN: 1101-1262; 1464-360X; 1464-360X
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckad001

The calls for decolonizing global health are increasing in both numbers and intensity. The discourse is undoubtedly gaining traction and increasingly a topic for discussion in journals, the public global health debate and at international conferences. A natural question that begs to be answered in the European public health community is ‘What does it mean for us?’ Here, we provide a few possible answers to that question.The concept of decolonizing global health stems from the persisting power inequities in relationships between global health actors and researchers in what is bluntly referred to as the global ‘North’ (high-income countries) and the ‘South’ [low- and lower middle-income countries; LMICs1 (The use of the categories low- and middle-income countries has recently been challenged in Lencucha and Neupane.2)] This in turn is a reflection that much of global health cooperation and research is funded by development assistance and the structures around how that aid is provided. Cooperations were originally formed in the era of colonialism and under colonial relations. Scholars in the decolonization debate have proposed that cooperation between ‘donors’ and ‘recipients’ today is still largely influenced by such colonial relations.3Others have suggested that the current global health ideology should be understood in a wider context in which that ideology contributes to preserving an unjust world order and related inequalities. They claim that the wealth and power distribution are not put at stake but rather reinforced by the ideology.4 This refers to both control of funds and the claim that persons in, or from, the ‘South’ are inadequately respected in the discipline, and that they are not properly represented in decision-making.