Public Health Diplomacy: Foreign Policy's Latest Health Recognition

The Public Health Diplomacy: The Latest Recognition of Health in International Policy essay looks at health from multiple viewpoints. Health is originally presented as an important consideration for people and society at large. Therefore, there will be the accomplishment of the national target in the situation where health is properly covered through quality improvement. The opinion of Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Erk is that securing health is not easy and goes beyond health factors. Health, for instance, is determined by multiple variables at both human and population levels. The writers argue that a variety of initiatives in life and work appear to have both a positive and a negative effect on wellbeing. As a result, there is a health consequence for the population and its individuals.

Importantly, the article mentions that even from the definition of health by World Health Organization (WHO) health is affected by physical, social and mental factors. However, the authors continue to aver that health dimension extends to other factors that include the workplace condition, education, sanitation, healthcare services, housing, rate of employment, and communities. Therefore, it can be argued that health is a broad issue because of the number of factors that directly or indirectly affect the status of health. In following this line of argument, the author asserts that health determinate is impacted best by actions and policies that fall outside the health dimension such as environmental policies, transportation, and economic policies. Thus, depending on action of the mentioned policies, health is influenced positively or negatively.

The author of the article mentions that health in any society is a critical factor. Individually, health determines whether most goals of a nation become realizable. For instance, according to various researches undertaken, health determines whether the country will be in a position to increase the national and individual wealth. For example, health is the biggest contributor of superior economy of a nation. In the scenario where the country population are exposed to good health condition, productivity increases affecting the economy growth. In the case where the population is weak and affected by illness, there is low productivity that adversely affects economic growth. Thus, the authors argue that health is a paramount aspect for the success of any society and individuals. The recognition of health as an important aspect is crucial because many nations around the globe now utilize the foundations of health for achieving both economic and social development. Thus, protecting the health of a population has become the primary goal of nations and the world at large.

Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Erk argue that health is further influenced by external dimensions. Globalization is one of the major external dimension that affects health. Globalization entails movements of individuals in and out of the country. Through the movement of a population, there are high chances that bacteria, viruses, parasites, and actual illnesses are transferred from one nation to another. As a result, health has become a global issue because citizens of a country cannot be free of illnesses if the neighboring region still struggles with preventable diseases. Another external dimension is health foreign policy and health diplomacy. According to the article, health cannot remain a national issue because of the interdependence created by the elements of health. Globally, there has been formulation of policies that influence the health sector. For example, a number of nations around the globe annually receive funding to deal with health issues as outlined by international policy guidelines. The alignment of national interests with international diplomacy has affected health through seeking protection that leads to improved health at global and local levels. Thus, health is an important tool for diplomacy that aids nations to accomplish goals.

Part II: Critique of the article

In response to the article written by Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Erk it can be argued that the article is informative as readers can easily decipher important lessons. In most cases, health is viewed as an aspect that revolves around hospital. After reading and analysis of the article, it was deciphered that health is a critical factor. Health as depicted in the article affects all aspects in life. For example, without good health individuals will be unable to work or produce leading to slowing of the economy. Therefore, the article is very interesting because it has all the factors needed to better understand health.

Further analysis of the article reveals that the authors successfully revealed their ideas concerning the perspectives of health. The authors carefully organized their idea that was supported by obvious facts. As a result of the well written articles, Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Erk managed to explicitly communicate the main theme of the article that health is both a local, national, and a global issue. Moreover, it can be stated that the article is well written because of high organization of ideas and facts. As a result, readers can easily understand the primary objective of the article thereby depicting superior authorship.

As a reader, it is worthy to mention that the article is highly likeable. The main reason is that it brings a broader understanding of health that is often viewed from the perspective of hospitals. After reading the article, it was realized that health is affected by a number of factors. The most interesting fact that was picked from the article is that health is the determinant of success both at individuals and national level. For example, if a person is sick, he or she is unable to engage in productivity that often leads to burden that emanates in form of dependence. Therefore, it can be argued that this is the most informative point in the article as it inculcates the knowledge that health is an integral part both at individual and community level.

Despite the article being overall informative, there are various aspects in the article that depicts weaknesses. For example, the authors clearly showcase their arguments accompanied by general descriptions. In the article, the authors assert that health is affected by a number of internal factors such as education, the population, and housing. In this case, the author should have clearly outlined how some of these common factors influence health. Therefore, Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Erk missed out on this critical aspect that could have enhanced the quality of the article.

The conclusion of the article showcases how health can be improved. In this part of the article, the authors show how health can be improved. However, there is absence of practical solutions that can be implemented. For example, Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Erk states that global health diplomacy and coherence coupled with cooperation between key players in health can aid in dealing with the health security challenge. In this case, the author ought to have demonstrated how global health security can be realized. If the authors discussed the solutions following this line, the article would have become more superior.

Reference

Kickbusch, Ilona and Christian Erk. (2009). “Global Health Diplomacy: The New Recognition of Health in Foreign Policy.” Strategies for Realizing the Right to Health, pp. 517-524.