Characterizing Global Health Governance by International Organizations: Is There an Ante- and Post-COVID-19 Architecture?

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on global social policy actors and their ideas on health care systems. The specific position and constellation of key IOs are illustrated by a mapping and characterization of four central IOs (WHO, World Bank, ILO, OECD). The main ideas on health care systems of these four IOs are presented in relation to each other, taking into account discourses between them. That is then taken further to characterize the global health governance architecture based on contestational and collaborative relationships between IOs. Based on that, the chapter discusses the (preliminary) implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for altering that architecture.