ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the premise that the process of globalization has particular impacts on health and that there is a clear need to better understand and more effectively respond to these impacts. It argues that the particular form that globalization takes has created social conditions that have influenced the transmission, incidence, and vulnerability of different individuals and groups to the disease. The chapter explores a definition of global governance for health and discusses key functions and characteristics that may be needed to protect human health on a global scale. It also argues that an analysis of cholera from the nineteenth century can offer important insights into the nature of globalization and the specific challenges it poses for human health. The emergence of global governance as a central concept in international relations responds to a perceived change in the nature of world politics. In contrast to international governance, the defining feature of global governance is its comprehensiveness.
