ABSTRACT
If health is to be improved and inequalities narrowed, strong global leadership is required. The WHO has been identified in some quarters as fulfilling this role. Others argue that the WHO's role needs redefinition and the UN should lead a global health panel. But the UN has also been criticized as supporting market mechanisms that have proved harmful to the health of some of the poorest nations. Whether or not the WHO or the UN can lead with authority, credibility and diplomacy in this crowded and complex policy arena remains to be seen. The best that may be possible is the assemblage of a loose collection of temporary alliances emerging out of some mutual recognition of self-interest. Globalization is, however, generally thought to have accelerated and intensified during the twentieth century insofar as global connectedness has become multidirectional, multifaceted, dynamic and complex, such that it has become difficult for anyone to fully comprehend or control the global world.
