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October 7, 2024

Framing Policy in Global Health

Lessons from Research on the Policy Process for Contested Health Issues

Event Series: Global Public Health Seminars

Abstract art from a tunnel in Atlanta.

This presentation by Adam Koon surveyed research conducted by Koon and his colleagues on the politics of the health policy process from around the world. A brief introduction to theoretical and methodological innovations from critical policy studies acquainted seminar participants with the contours of social research on the policy process. Koon then provided an overview of his recent scholarship on framing in different policy arenas, including 1) health financing in Kenya, 2) COVID-19 in the United States, 3) road safety in the Philippines, and 4) health taxes globally. Koon and seminar participants discussed the strengths and weaknesses of using framing to understand human interaction in the policy process. In this way, participants were introduced to different ways of thinking about, and analyzing, the policy process in volatile conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Global Health Science and Security, the School of Health’s Department of Health Management and Policy and the Department of Global Health, the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, and the Global Health Institute.

Featured

Adam Koon is an assistant professor in the Department of Global Health at the School of Health and in the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has extensive experience in global health program management and research. His scholarship seeks to understand the role of ideas, language, and social values in health policy conflicts. Koon strives to strengthen health systems in areas such as financing, consumer products regulation, and workforce development. He is an Honorary Senior Researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Center for Health Policy in South Africa and was previously a faculty member in the Health Systems Program in Johns Hopkins University's Department of International Health.

Picture courtesy of Adam Koon.