Global science and social movements: towards a rational politics of global health

Tropical medicine as a discipline was originally limited to those diseases that are the consequence of the ecology of disease in the tropics. Over the past 100 years we have come to realise that this limitation was the consequence of an historical snapshot. The commonality of human experience throughout the world speaks to our common biology and has led to the articulation of Global Health. We lack a coherent understanding of Global Health but its reach is beyond that of governments and entails concepts of justice and humanity as well as biomedicine and all the attendant semi-congruent disciplines. The development of Global Health will redefine the roles of all the stakeholders in the international health community be they individuals, institutions, agencies or medical journals. At present the gestation of Global Health involves the chaotic tumbling, rumbling and knocking together of ideas and aspirations. The hope must be that the outcome will be the highest attainable standard of health for all if not the perfectibility of humankind.