ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the recent history of international (now global) health efforts, in particular the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and hypothesizes that health goals have been watered down, although health is implicit in the other goals. It addresses the relative importance of health in a changing world where new threats are emerging at the same time as huge gains have been made in elimination of certain diseases, and there are growing challenges from globalization and lack of formal governance structures. The chapter reviews critiques of global health governance. It concludes that “well-being” is a better measure of “development” and that we are moving to a new paradigm of health and health provision. This increasingly includes the concept of Universal Health Coverage, defined as ensuring people have access to effective quality health services that do not cause financial hardship.
