Social Science in relation to Global Health

Our primary point of departure is that health and illness are as much social and political as medical phenomena. We explore how the social and the political, and global interactions and flows (of diseases; technologies; ideologies) shape health and well-being and affect the implementation of health policies and programmes in and across specific contexts.

All these globalized dimensions impact health: crises in the global economy affect the financing of local health-care systems; health worker mobility fills human resource gaps in some places whilst creating shortages in others; global politics trigger or aggravate “local” conflicts with devasting consequences for people’s health and well-being and health systems. As seen clearly during the Covid-19 pandemic, health problems and their solutions are never confined to clearly bounded localities or regions: “tropical” diseases are an increasing threat to the Global North; pharmaceutical companies are among the biggest and most powerful multinationals; and clinical trials, often led by the so-called Global North institutions and carried out in the so-called Global South, have become a global industry, raising a range of social and ethical issues.

These global processes and flows create, preserve and exacerbate inequalities, often along the lines of classed, racialized , citizenship or gendered  divisions.  The global and the local are intimately entangled, and our work on global health-related questions seeks to attend to these local-global enmeshments and their implications for human, non-human and more-than-human health and wellbeing.

Global Health’s colonial roots continue to haunt and shape the field, leading to inequitable prioritizations of the health of certain nations or groups (again the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine inequities constitute clear examples). At the SSGH, we believe that greater attention is needed for how the past, and narratives of the past, continue to shape possible current and future health at individual and collective levels. As a Centre we are committed to adopting a decolonial approach and strengthening our abilities to decentre Northern perspectives and foster equitable partnerships.

What we do

Through the Centre, we seek to connect social scientists and humanities scholars working on Global health to achieve synergies, learn from each other and strengthen our work through productive collaboration.

Second, the Centre seeks to form a bridge between scholars and non-academic stakeholders in and beyond the Netherlands, whether policymakers, health practitioners or NGOs. We foster ties with other global health centres and initiatives around the world, with a focus on the Majority World. We hold networking events and Global Health seminars; organize skills building workshops; and offer small grants to fund members’ activities, through a yearly call..

Interested in becoming part of our Global Health community? Learn more about membership criteria here.