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The 2024 U.S. Elections: Global Health Policy at a Crossroads

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2024

Benjamin Mason Meier Open the ORCID record for Benjamin Mason Meier [Opens in a new window] ,
Aunchalee E.L. Palmquist ,
Meredith Dockery ,
Neha Saggi ,
Kiara Ekeigwe ,
Isabela Latorre  and
Gavin Yamey
Benjamin Mason Meier
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, USA
Aunchalee E.L. Palmquist
Affiliation:
DUKE UNIVERSITY, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, USA.
Meredith Dockery
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, USA
Neha Saggi
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL, CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, USA
Kiara Ekeigwe
Affiliation:
DUKE UNIVERSITY, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, USA.
Isabela Latorre
Affiliation:
DUKE UNIVERSITY, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, USA.
Gavin Yamey
Affiliation:
DUKE UNIVERSITY, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, USA.
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Abstract

The 2024 U.S. election will shape the future of global health policy, with crucial implications for continuing U.S. leadership in global health. The United States has long played a critical role in global health governance, through multilateral institutions under the United Nations (UN) and bilateral assistance to advance U.S. priorities. However, political shifts have challenged U.S. engagement in global health, with the politicization of global health policy threatening global governance under the World Health Organization (WHO) and dividing global health support across political parties. This political polarization in global health proved catastrophic in the COVID-19 pandemic response and influential in the 2020 Presidential Elections. With the United States again seeking to advance global health policy, the 2024 Elections present a clear contrast in global health visions across U.S. political parties – with sweeping impacts on global governance, health funding, sexual and reproductive health, corporate regulations, tax equity, humanitarian challenges, and climate change. The future of U.S. leadership in global health hangs in the balance of this election, raising an imperative for candidates to highlight their global health positions and for voters to consider the global health implications.

Keywords

United StatesGlobal Health PolicyUnited Nations (UN)World Health Organization (WHO)Elections
Type
Columns: Global Health Law
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 52 , Issue 2: Defining Health Law for the Future: A Tribute to Professor Charity Scott , Summer 2024 , pp. 498 - 505
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

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Footnotes

About This Column

Lawrence O. Gostin and Benjamin Mason Meier serve as the section editors for Global Health Law. Professor Gostin is University Professor at Georgetown University and the Founding Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. Professor Meier is a Professor of Global Health Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Senior Scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. This column features timely analyses and perspectives on law, policy, and justice in global health.

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