ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the role played by foundations globally in structuring health as a private enterprise. It explores the interplays of power and knowledge within the ambits of the role of foundations in shaping health-organizing structures across the globe. The powerful role of foundations in shaping global health agendas has been accelerated and intensely magnified under neoliberalism, turning social problems to the domain of capitalism, as the site of action for those very same capitalist structures that lie at the heart of the global social problem. The Gates Foundation has played a global leadership role in reshaping the contours of health within the agendas of neoliberal interventionism. Empowerment is an organizing feature of neoliberal health organizing. Through the emphasis on the language of empowerment, foundations have played vital roles in establishing the hegemony of neoliberal organizing in global health, while at the same time weakening public health infrastructures. Global health partnerships work hand in hand with foundations.