A disease outbreak, a contaminated food shipment, or a new tobacco-control treaty rarely stays inside one country’s borders – yet the tools to manage it are still negotiated between governments, agencies, and blocs with very different interests. That gap between a global health problem and a national decision-making system is exactly where health diplomacy operates, and it is a skill set most health professionals were never formally taught.

This course treats global health as a foreign-policy and negotiation subject as much as a medical one. Participants examine the institutions, treaties, and actors shaping today’s health diplomacy, and build the practical skills – negotiation, stakeholder management, and policy analysis – needed to operate effectively when health issues cross borders, sectors, and political systems.

Who Should Attend?

• Diplomats, policy advisors, and government leaders whose portfolios touch health, foreign affairs, or security.
• Health attachés and professionals in ministries of health and foreign affairs.
• Staff of international and regional organizations, NGOs, philanthropic bodies, universities, and the private sector working across health, law, economics, or international relations.
• Postgraduate students of international health or international relations.

What You Will Be Able to Do

• Trace the history and recent evolution of global health diplomacy and identify its key current challenges.
• Apply core concepts of global health, health diplomacy, and global health governance to real cases.
• Analyze how health intersects with foreign policy, trade, climate change, and human rights.
• Identify the institutions and initiatives driving global health diplomacy and explain how they shape health outcomes.
• Evaluate real-world cases where health diplomacy succeeded or failed, and explain why.

Module 1: Health as a Foreign Policy and Security Issue

• Health security and its implications for national and global stability
• Links between health, development, and security, with case studies

Module 2: What Global Health Diplomacy Is and Why It Emerged

• Definition, scope, and historical evolution
• Why diplomacy is needed to address global health challenges

Module 3: Who’s in the Room – Key Actors in Global Health Diplomacy

• International organizations such as WHO and UNICEF
• National governments, ministries of health, NGOs, and civil society

Module 4: Global Health Governance Frameworks

• Structures of global health governance
• The International Health Regulations (IHR) and their role in emergency response to pandemics and outbreaks

Module 5: Diplomatic Skills for Global Health

• Negotiation techniques and cultural sensitivity
• Building alliances and partnerships in global health initiatives

Module 6: Turning Evidence into Policy

• Policy analysis and formulation processes
• Evidence-based decision-making and advocacy strategies

Module 7: Financing Global Health Initiatives

• Funding mechanisms and public-private partnerships
• Sustainability challenges in global health financing

Module 8: Data, Trade, and Health – The Hidden Connections

• The role of data collection and cross-border data-sharing in health decisions
• The impact of trade agreements and global supply chains on health outcomes

Module 9: Communicating Health Across Borders

• Communication frameworks for health diplomacy
• Misinformation, disinformation, and engaging stakeholders through media and technology

Module 10: Capacity Building Amid Geopolitical Tensions

• Strengthening health systems in low-resource settings through training and cooperation
• How geopolitical conflict shapes and complicates health diplomacy

Module 11: Cultural Competence in Practice

• Understanding cultural context and barriers to healthcare access
• The importance of local engagement in health diplomacy

Module 12: Emerging Threats and the Road Ahead

• Emerging infectious diseases, climate change, and technological advancements
• Ethical considerations: equity, national interest vs. global responsibility, and human rights