ABSTRACT
This chapter makes the point that the governance of global institutions matters for an effective response to HIV/AIDS. The linkage between existing governance structures and mechanisms of global institutions and effectiveness of the global response is explored in three specific areas: (1) governance of intellectual property rights (IPRs) as applied to pharmaceutical products, which affects access to essential medicines for treating AIDS; (2) governance of global financial institutions with respect to the regulation of international capital flows and macroeconomic management, which affects the ability of resource-poor countries to meet the immediate public health threat and longer-term development challenges of HIV/AIDS; and (3) global economic governance which concerns the relationship between the rich countries of the Global North and the poor countries of the Global South, and more specifically how the imbalance of power between the North and the South in terms of voice and influence in key global institutions affects the capacities of developing countries to respond effectively to the threat posed by the epidemic to their populations and to their economies. In addition to examining the global governance of HIV/AIDS
response within the framework of institutions in the traditional multilateral system, the chapter also looks at the emergence of the G8 – the group of rich developed countries, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, with the participation of the European Commission – as part of a new generation of global institutions that has broadened its agenda to address the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS globally and major illnesses afflicting the world as awhole. The wealth, power, and influence of the G8 in the context of the global economy and politics make it a potentially powerful catalyst for innovation in global health governance, as already illustrated by its role in the creation of the Global Fund in 2002.
