The agenda of civil society organizations in global health: weaving networks of social engagement and participation
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Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) Brazilian Association of Public Health/Scholarship by Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) Brazil
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Public Health School/Fiocruz
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Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) Brazilian Association of Public Health Brazil
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Federal University of Bahia (UFBA)
Publication date: 2023-04-26
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A1602
ABSTRACT
Background:
The study highlights the performance of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the context of global health by monitoring their public manifestations in the Observatory of Global Health and Health Diplomacy of the Center for International Relations and Health at Fiocruz - Brazil (CRIS/Fiocruz), in 2022.
Methods:
With a qualitative, analytical, and reflexive approach, it discusses the data obtained in the monitoring of 50 CSOs, through visits to their official websites and social networks, systematized in bi-weekly publications in 2022 that constituted 23 documents for the study. The data were submitted to the content analysis technique, organized by grouping the CSOs into two analytical groups and categories: the public interest CSOs and the private interest CSOs.
Results:
CSOs work for human rights, peace, equity, economic and environmental sustainability, and global responses based on cooperation and solidarity. Public interest CSOs focus on exposing health inequities and global inaction and call for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including strengthening health systems and intersectoral collaboration. On the other hand, the Private interest CSOs highlight their initiatives to financially support research and public health programs in low-income countries, prioritizing actions related to artificial intelligence, digital technologies and to stand up to the neglected tropical diseases.
Conclusions:
Repeatedly the manifestations emphasize the relevance of the ethical principle of equity, attention to vulnerable groups, and the need to implement policies, agreements, cooperation, and treaties that preserve the people and the planets health. The persistence of this agenda makes it evident that the search for equity has not gone beyond the rhetorical sphere, remaining distant from concrete actions. Behind this persistence, there is a clear insinuation of the global power asymmetries and the dispute between conceptions of health as a human right or as a commodity.