Poverty reduction and access to better conditions of wellbeing, including recognition of rights, are persisting challenges in developing countries and their populations. In recent years, the terms of regionalism in South America have been redefined to embrace new objectives and practices beyond economic integration. Since the inception of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), health became a ‘locus for integration’, creating a new framework for formal integration in this policy area. The significance of regional health governance has, therefore, to be seen in the process of region-building but also as new practices projected externally through ‘regional health diplomacy’. From this perspective, the region can be considered both as a ‘space for policy practice’ and as an ‘actor’.
This paper explores UNASUR’s health diplomacy policies and politics within the region and vis-à-vis external actors in relation to access to medicine and rights to health. It is argued that new policies and the negotiation of regional health policies are redefining what region is and is for, and the synergies between regionalism and social development.
Keywords:
regionalism, regional social policy, regional health diplomacy, UNASUR
Author Biography
Pia Riggirozzi, Universidad de Southampton
Profesora adjunta de Política Internacional, Universidad de Southampton, Reino Unido
Riggirozzi, P. (2015). UNASUR: building a regional health diplomacy with social policies. Estudios Internacionales, 47(181), 29–50. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-3769.2015.36837
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