Welcome to Global Order - A Podcast

Pandemics do not affect everyone equally. Who gets sick, who survives, who provides care, and whose needs are prioritized are shaped by the inequalities that already exist in society. Past and current Ebola outbreaks in Africa have made this painfully clear, with women bearing a disproportionate share of deaths, caregiving responsibilities, and economic and social disruption.

We are living in an age of polycrisis, where pandemics, climate change, conflict, and widening inequality are converging to undermine collective well-being and societal resilience. Yet the systems of multilateral cooperation and global governance designed to help us navigate these crises are increasingly struggling to deliver.

The numbers are stark. Nearly a quarter of the world's nations are sliding toward authoritarian rule and autocracies now outnumber democracies. This has serious implications for the health and wellbeing of people across the planet. At the same time for forty years, even as elections spread across the globe, more and more of the decisions that actually shape lives were lifted out of democratic reach. In this moment of global disruption, it seems these forces matter--they are reshaping the health of people today and the policy options available. Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS, former head of Oxfam International, and a long-time democracy activist. She joints us to reflect on democracy, health, inequality, and power drawing from her experience in Uganda’s pro-democracy struggle to her work leading the global response to HIV/AIDS. We discuss how political systems shape health outcomes, what happens when wealth and political power become concentrated in the hands of a few, and whether the international system itself needs to be democratized. Global Order is a project of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy & Politics, hosted by Dr. Matthew Kavanagh. Global Order is produced by The Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng Network. Our producers are Pheello Mofokeng and Harriet Hita. Content was researched and produced by Sanjana Mukherjee, Anmol Mathur, and Rhea Shetty. Kgomotso Mashego does our graphics and Oliver Aplin is our communications manager. You can find out more at https://ghpp.georgetown.edu/globalorder/

The numbers are stark. Nearly a quarter of the world's nations are sliding toward authoritarian rule and autocracies now outnumber democracies. This has serious implications for the health and wellbeing of people across the planet. At the same time for forty years, even as elections spread across the globe, more and more of the decisions that actually shape lives were lifted out of democratic reach. In this moment of global disruption, it seems these forces matter--they are reshaping the health of people today and the policy options available. Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS, former head of Oxfam International, and a long-time democracy activist. She joints us to reflect on democracy, health, inequality, and power drawing from her experience in Uganda’s pro-democracy struggle to her work leading the global response to HIV/AIDS. We discuss how political systems shape health outcomes, what happens when wealth and political power become concentrated in the hands of a few, and whether the international system itself needs to be democratized. Global Order is a project of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy & Politics, hosted by Dr. Matthew Kavanagh. Global Order is produced by The Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng Network. Our producers are Pheello Mofokeng and Herriet Hita. Content was researched and produced by Sanjana Mukherjee, Anmol Mathur, and Rhea Shetty. Kgomotso Mashego does our graphics and Oliver Aplin is our communications manager. You can find out more at https://ghpp.georgetown.edu/globalorder/