In the light of scares about potential pandemics such as swine fever and avian flu, the issue of global health and its governance is of increasing concern to scholars and practitioners of medicine, public health, social work, and international politics alike.

Providing a concise and informative introduction to how global health is governed, this book:

• Explores the various ways in which we understand global health governance
• Explains the nuts and bolts of the traditional institutions of global health governance, highlights key frameworks and treaties and their relative successes and failings
• Examines the actors in global health governance, their purpose, influence and impact
• Offers an in depth analysis of the effectiveness of global health interventions, focusing particularly on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Highlighting the wide variety of actors, issues and approaches involved, this work shows the complex nature of global health governance, forcing the reader to examine who or what really governs global health, to what outcome, and for whom.