Investigating the Democratic Functioning of the World Health Organization

Presenter

Kareem Mosaheb

Campus

UMass Amherst

Sponsor

Frederic Schaffer, Department of Political Science, UMass Amherst

Schedule

Session 3, 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A37, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 2 (A21-A40) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

In this thesis I examined the democratic practices of the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to reveal whether or not it performs to its written democratic standards. More specifically the question I investigated is, Does the unequal funding distribution of members of the World Health Organization affect the democratic functioning of the WHO and to what extent does this deprioritize equal global health resolutions? This question is an important area of study in terms of holding the World Health Organization accountable for their actions, as well as studying if such an important agency that claims to run democratically is indeed performing as it should. I performed a most likely case study on the World Health Organizations draft of the Malaria Global Technical Strategy (post 2015) in order to investigate the question studied by my thesis. The hypothesis I tested was as follows, unequal financial distributions by member states of the WHO will lead to those with more contributions holding more influence in setting the WHO’s agendas and policies, subsequently creating unequal global health agendas favoring those powerful nations. By analyzing the relationship between member states' different stances on the Malaria Global Technical Strategy draft policy and the resulting changes in it, or the lack of changes, I aim to demonstrate who had influence in the policy making process. I then used this influence data and cross referenced it with the financial contribution data from the WHO to show any correlations between unequal funding and influence on policies.

Keywords

Democracy, Global Healthcare, Health Equality, Global Accountability

Research Area

Political Science and Government

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