TY - JOUR T1 - Global health diplomacy: advancing foreign policy and global health interests JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 24 LP - 28 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-12-00048 VL - 1 IS - 1 AU - Josh Michaud AU - Jennifer Kates Y1 - 2013/03/01 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/1/1/24.abstract N2 - Attention to global health diplomacy has been rising but the future holds challenges, including a difficult budgetary environment. Going forward, both global health and foreign policy practitioners would benefit from working more closely together to achieve greater mutual understanding and to advance respective mutual goals. Recently, there has been a remarkable surge of interest in the topic of “global health diplomacy” (GHD). Official GHD offices have been established at the World Health Organization (WHO) and at the U.S. Department of State, and offices within governments of many countries now have a broad set of new GHD responsibilities.1-3 Academics have begun to publish articles on the subject in greater numbers; more than 70% of all peer-reviewed journal articles on GHD since 1970 were published in the last decade, according to a recent analysis.4 While international engagement on health issues has a history that extends back to at least the 19th century, the renewed emphasis is notable. What is driving this interest in—and support for—GHD, and what might it imply for the current and future practice of global health? It is worth noting that, even with this growing level of interest, there is little agreement on how to define “global health diplomacy.”5-6 Generally, GHD refers to international diplomatic activities that (directly or indirectly) address issues of global health importance, and is concerned with how and why global health issues play out in a foreign policy context. GHD can encompass a broad set of activities and actors, such as formal country delegations holding bilateral and multilateral negotiations on health issues, a combination of governmental and nongovernmental actors negotiating on health-related issues, and, although often not considered “diplomacy” in the traditional sense, official or semi-official representatives of one country acting in a health capacity in another (see box for specific … ER -