Jens Holst

The paper "Global Health - What is the challenge?" published in the Journal of Global, Public and One Health in January 2024 presents global health as a complex umbrella term that has grown in importance over the past two decades, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the term "global health" still lacks a universally agreed definition and is applied to a rather broad range of subjects and topics. Ultimately, global health can be seen as the evolution of public health in the face of diverse and pervasive global challenges and the growing number of international actors. The term goes beyond the territorial meaning of "global", linking the local and the global, and refers to an explicitly political concept that takes into account social inequalities, power asymmetries, unequal distribution of resources and governance structures. Global health views health as a universal, rights-based good. Global health must overcome inherited structures and the dominant biomedical reductionism in order to contribute, through health-in-all policies at global level, to meeting essential needs for improving and safeguarding the health of people worldwide.