Ashish Joshi, Dean SPH is leading new initiative at the School of Public Health "Public Health Diplomacy in the 21st century"

Role of Public Health Diplomacy in the 21st century

June 5, 2024 - Health issues are becoming increasingly global in nature. The world has become more interconnected and health issues such as pandemics, antimicrobial resistance, and the impact of climate change on health threatens the global population. COVID-19 pandemic highlighted inequalities particularly related to healthcare access and vaccination rates across diverse geographic settings and especially among populations living in under-resourced settings. This leads to calls for greater coordinated international diplomatic efforts and coordinated policy measures.

The proposed Public Health Diplomacy lab at SPH will focus on concepts and theories that can be applied at the intersection of international relations, global health, and policy towards attaining Sustainable Development Goals through understanding of broad stakeholder engagement, consensus building, negotiations, and outcomes, says Dean Ashish Joshi.

Public Health diplomacy lab at UofM SPH will bring together multiple stakeholders including governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and academic and research institutions. It aims to enhance population health, improve collaboration and coordination among all actors to promote health, and will support advancement of fair and equitable access to healthcare resources attaining equitable results, enhance equality, and enhance good health and well-being.

The Public Health Diplomacy lab at SPH is led by Ashish Joshi, Dean School of Public Health and involves other collaborators including Marian Levy (School of Public Health), Xinhua Yu (School of Public Health), Beverly A Tsacoyianis (College of Arts & Sciences), Diana Ruggiero (College of Arts & Sciences), and Gretchen Peterson (College of Arts & Sciences)

Link: Summer 24 Proposals - Diplomacy - The University of Memphis