Global Health Diplomacy: Health Governance, Resolution Negotiation and Partnerships – Paris, 21–25 Dec 2026

Programme overview

Introduction:

Global health diplomacy decides whether a health ministry, mission or NGO shapes the resolutions, financing rules and partnership terms that later bind its own health system, or simply receives them. Many delegations arrive at health assemblies and donor tables without a mapped position, coalition plan or costed ask. This Core Concept course trains international affairs staff, diplomats, public health managers and NGO leaders to read global health governance, negotiate health texts, engage financiers and build partnerships. Each participant produces a Global Health Negotiation Brief and Partnership Strategy for a case global health issue.

Course Objectives:

• Map the global health governance architecture and identify where a given health issue is decided, financed and implemented
• Frame a health priority as a foreign policy interest and align health, foreign affairs, trade and finance ministries behind one position
• Negotiate health resolutions and agreement texts through member-state assembly and executive board procedure, using coalitions and bracketed drafts
• Assess the health implications of trade and intellectual property rules and of the International Health Regulations framework for a national or organisational position
• Structure financing asks and partnership agreements with multilateral agencies, donors, NGOs and private sector actors
• Prepare a Global Health Negotiation Brief and Partnership Strategy for a case global health issue

Target Audience:

• International health cooperation units responsible for representing a health ministry in multilateral and bilateral forums
• Diplomatic mission staff covering health, humanitarian and social files
• Public health programme managers who negotiate externally funded programmes and technical cooperation
• NGO and humanitarian health leaders responsible for advocacy, access negotiation and donor relations
• Policy advisers who prepare health positions and speaking notes for ministers and heads of delegation

Course Outline:

Day 1: Global Health Diplomacy Landscape and Governance Architecture

• Global Health Diplomacy Levels: Core State Negotiation, Multi-Stakeholder and Informal Channels
• Global Health Governance Map: Global Health Agency, Assembly, Executive Board and Regional Committees
• Health as a Foreign Policy Interest: Security, Development, Trade and Solidarity Frames
• Stakeholder Power Matrix for Philanthropies, Global Health Initiatives, NGOs and Industry
• Health Diplomacy Capability Self-Assessment for an International Health Cooperation Unit

Day 2: Legal Frameworks, Health Security Rules and Trade Linkages

• International Health Regulations Framework: Core Capacities, National Focal Point and Emergency Determination
• Binding and Non-Binding Health Instruments: Conventions, Regulations, Resolutions and Codes
• Health and Trade Agreements Overview: Technical Barriers, Sanitary Measures and Trade Restrictions
• Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines Overview: Patent Flexibilities and Voluntary Licensing
• Whole-of-Government Position Paper: Health, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Finance Inputs

Day 3: Negotiating Health Resolutions and Agreements

• Assembly Resolution Lifecycle: Agenda Item, Draft Text, Informal Consultations and Adoption
• Interest-Based Negotiation Plan: BATNA, Reservation Point and Trade-Off Table for Health Texts
• Coalition Building Across Regional Groups and Like-Minded Health Blocs
• Bracketed Health Text Drafting: Operative Paragraphs, Preambular Language and Compromise Wording
• Delegation Intervention Script and Explanation of Vote for Health Agenda Items

Day 4: Financing, Partnerships, Health Security and Humanitarian Access

• Global Health Financing Channels: Assessed Contributions, Voluntary Funds, Pooled Funds and Development Banks
• Donor Engagement Plan: Co-Financing Ask, Results Framework and Transition Terms
• Partnership Agreement Design with Multilateral Agencies, NGOs and Private Sector: Roles, Risks and Exit Clauses
• Pandemic Diplomacy: Pathogen Sample Sharing, Countermeasure Allocation and Equity Negotiation
• Humanitarian Health Diplomacy: Access Negotiation, Protection of Health Care and Neutral Intermediaries

Day 5: Negotiation Role-Play and the Global Health Negotiation Brief

• Position Communication Toolkit: Message House, Ministerial Speaking Points and Media Lines
• Health Assembly Role-Play: Negotiating a Draft Resolution on a Case Global Health Issue
• Donor Roundtable Role-Play: Securing Co-Financing and Partner Commitments
• Global Health Negotiation Brief and Partnership Strategy Drafting
• Head-of-Delegation Panel Review and Brief Defence

Skills You Will Gain:

• Global Health Governance Mapping
• Health Foreign Policy Framing
• Multilateral Health Negotiation
• Resolution Text Drafting
• Health Trade and Intellectual Property Analysis
• Donor and Co-Financing Engagement
• Health Partnership Structuring
• Humanitarian Access Negotiation

Why Attend This Course:

• Return with a Global Health Negotiation Brief and Partnership Strategy for a case global health issue, reviewed by a head-of-delegation panel
• Rehearse a draft resolution negotiation and a donor roundtable against peers representing other delegations and funders
• Bring health, foreign affairs, trade and finance inputs into a single position before a delegation travels
• Compare health diplomacy practice with ministry, mission, programme and NGO colleagues from several health systems

Conclusion:

Health outcomes are increasingly shaped in assembly halls, donor rooms and partnership negotiations as well as in clinics. The course moves from the levels of global health diplomacy and the governance architecture, through the International Health Regulations framework, binding and soft instruments and trade and intellectual property links, to resolution negotiation, coalitions and text drafting, then to financing, partnerships, pandemic and humanitarian health diplomacy. The final day rehearses an assembly negotiation and a donor roundtable and produces a Global Health Negotiation Brief and Partnership Strategy.