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The Submissive Relationship of Public Health to Government, Politics, and Economics: How Global Health Diplomacy and Engaged Followership Compromise Humanitarian Relief.

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  • Author(s): Peplow D;Peplow D; Augustine S; Augustine S
  • Source:
    International journal of environmental research and public health [Int J Environ Res Public Health] 2020 Feb 22; Vol. 17 (4). Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Feb 22.
  • Publication Type:
    Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: MDPI Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101238455 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1660-4601 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 16604601 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Environ Res Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Basel : MDPI, c2004-
    • Subject Terms:
      Diplomacy* ; Economics* ; Global Health*/statistics & numerical data ; Global Health*/trends ; Government* ; Politics* ; Public Health*/statistics & numerical data; Developing Countries/economics ; Developing Countries/statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Public Policy ; Suriname
    • Abstract:
      This paper describes efforts by public health practitioners to address a health crisis caused by economic development policies that are unrestrained by either environmental, public health, or human rights mandates. Economic development projects funded by international funding institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank that reduce poverty when measured in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the transborder region between Suriname and French Guiana harm minority populations where commercial activities destroy, alter, and remove the resources upon which local communities depend. In this study, the structural causes of a community health crisis affecting Indigenous people in the transborder region between Suriname and French Guiana was addressed by seeking gatekeepers in government who have access to policy-making processes. We found that deeply rooted economic development policies structured social, economic, and political alliances and made them resistant to feedback and reform. We concluded that work must be focused beyond the simple exchange of public health information. Public health practitioners must become politically active to create new policy commitments and new patterns of governance that advance development as well as improve health outcomes. Failure to do so may result in public health practitioners becoming 'engaged followers' that are complicit in the inhumanity that springs from their acquiescence to the authority of government officials when their policies are the cause of preventable death, disease, and disability.
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    • Grant Information:
      United Kingdom WT_ Wellcome Trust; 089659/Z/09/Z United Kingdom WT_ Wellcome Trust; 089659/Z/09/A United Kingdom WT_ Wellcome Trust
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: community health; economic development; engaged followers; structural causes
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20200227 Date Completed: 20201005 Latest Revision: 20240329
    • Publication Date:
      20240329
    • Accession Number:
      PMC7068329
    • Accession Number:
      10.3390/ijerph17041420
    • Accession Number:
      32098351