Accountability is widely viewed as a component of ‘good governance’. But the actual implementation of accountability systems and mechanisms is often incomplete or ineffective. All too often, accountability mechanisms mirror unequal power relationships and are used to reinforce existing hierarchies between different actors. Furthermore, the various democratic deficits that exist at the global level of governance result in accountability systems and mechanisms that are often weak and ineffective. Indeed, past efforts to strengthen accountability within global health have often either been weak, or actively blocked by powerful actors. In this seminar, David McCoy will present reflections from the experience thus far of UNU-IIGH’s new programme of work on the power and accountability of private actors in global health. It will discuss the challenges of strengthening accountability systems and mechanisms in relation to current global health structures and power dynamics, and the need for accountability initiatives to be accompanied by interventions aimed at shifting power across the global health landscape.
About the speaker
David McCoy currently works for the United Nations University’s International Institute for Global Health based in Malaysia before which he was Professor of Global Public Health and Director of the Centre for Global Health at Queen Mary University London. His earlier career consisted mainly of public service work as a clinician and public health specialist in both the UK (8 years) and South Africa (10 years). He has also been strongly involved in civil society movements: he led the UK-based global health charity Medact for five years and has also been an active member of the Peoples Health Movement through which he conceived and co-managed the publication of the first two Global Health Watch publications (also known as alternative world health reports). He has a Masters in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Cape Town and a doctorate from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
About this seminar series
The Collective Conversations is a seminar series organised by the Collective for the Political Determinants of Health. It aims to bring an original and critical lens to global health debates by discussing how the political determinants shape health outcomes.
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