Thailand, for many years it turns out, has had one of the largest delegations at the World Health Organization’s governing body, the World Health Assembly (WHA). The size of its delegation has rivaled that of the U.S., and countries from China to Japan have come to Thailand to take part in workshops on global health diplomacy the country offers. Delegates from other nations all know where the “Thai Village” is located at the WHA.
Rather than theory, these workshops focus on the practical, and at the WHA, junior officials from Thailand have the chance to deliver interventions and network with other delegates, providing an opportunity to “learn by doing.” Likewise, senior officials have been handpicked by the Secretary General to chair politically sensitive drafting committees, where the interests of different nations and blocs is carefully balanced and the language of particular resolutions is drafted.
It wasn’t always this way. As is the case for many Low-and-Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) at global health conferences, Thailand faced barriers to participation at the WHA. The country had traditionally only sent a very small delegation to the WHA and did not have great technical capacity on public health issues. But after new leaders experienced discrepancies in power between richer and poorer countries and found the experience frustrating, Thailand began investing in global health diplomacy at the WHA in the 1990s. Now a recognized leader in a growing number of policy areas that are critical to global health – from universal coverage to primary care to health technology assessment, disease control, HIV prevention, essential medicines, tobacco control and more – countries in the Southeast Asian region, European nations, and the developing world, look to Thailand as a source of knowledge and expertise, a broker between Global North and South.
Thailand’s story of global health diplomacy shows not only that it is possible for resource-constrained countries to punch above their weight and make their mark in global health – much as the country has done in specific policy domains, like universal coverage. But it also shows what deliberate and proactive efforts trained at capacity building can achieve. Moreover, as scholars in global health development, we often focus our attention on improving material conditions that include decreasing poverty and improving GDP per capita. And it is entirely reasonable to have that focus: much of our work is at the end of the day about saving lives and improving well-being. However, this fact also underscores just how often we overlook important symbolic motivations for countries’ actions, which frequently include improving a country’s position in global status hierarchies.
Click here to read the full article in Politics and Governance
About the author
Joseph Harris is a member of the Collective on the Political Determinants of Health and an Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University. He is Founder and Director of the Global Health Politics Workshop and Host of the Global Health Politics Podcast.
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