The interface and diffuse borderline between public and private are prominent in the issue-area of global public health

The interface and diffuse borderline between public and private are prominent in the issue-area of global public health. On the one hand, health may be regarded as a global public good, whose delivery is normally the responsibility of governments or intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). On the other hand, transnational pharmaceutical corporations and civil society actors are today important contributors to the provision of this public good. The emerging “new political ecosystem of health” can be seen as “an excellent example of the development of transnational society,” displaying “a complex interplay between state and non-state actors and ... new organisational mechanisms that allow for their involvement” (Kickbusch, 2005: 970).