London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Kelley Lee, Head of the Public and Environmental Health Research Unit and Reader in Global Health and Richard Smith, Head of the Health Policy Unit and Professor of Health System Economics have developed, and each contributed papers, to the series, which analyses key aspects of the relationship between trade and health, and sets an Agenda for Action in three priority areas: strengthening evidence on trade and health links, building trade and health engagement and capacity, and asserting health goals in trade policy.

In the introductory papers, Kelley Lee and colleagues analyse key aspects of the relationship between trade and health, and look at the key challenges facing efforts to achieve an appropriate balance between the two. They go on to discuss how the governance of trade and health relate to one another, how the two areas have become more closely aligned in recent decades due to the expansion of world trade and economic globalisation, and how well institutions such as the World Trade Organisation and the World Health Organisation are working together.

Richard Smith and colleagues present the latest trends and developments in the worldwide delivery of healthcare services, using the classification provided by the World Trade Organisation for the General Agreement on Trade in Services, which covers four modes of service delivery: cross-border supply of services; consumption of services abroad; foreign direct investment; and the movement of health professionals. They also look at the options available to the health community for negotiation to their advantage under TRIPS, the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

The authors comment: 'Trade and health have a long history that has seen these areas [trade and health] converge and diverge at different points in time. The current convergence, and the search for coherence, will define the trade and health relationship for decades to come. Whether those in both policy communities understand fully the trade and health imperative, and its technical and political challenges, will influence how these crucial objectives in global affairs will share the future of states and their peoples'.