Global health – a change of perception. The role of health in the post-2015 development agenda.

Sammanfattning: Health has been a recurring topic on the development agenda during the recent decades. During the 1980ies and 1990ies there was a great focus on the impact of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. In 2001 these three diseases were included in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) alongside with the health goals of reducing maternal and child mortality until 2015. As the final year of the MDGs is approaching the Secretary General has initiated the process for a new post-2015 development agenda. This thesis has looked into the role of health in UN documents that are related to the high-level summits of the UN. The timeline of the texts reaches from the inception of the MDGs at the end of the 1990ies until April 2013. The research questions guiding this thesis are: “How has the perception of health changed since the inception of the Millennium Development Goals and how does this affect the discussions on the place of health within the post-2015 development agenda?” and “What discourses are connected to the concept of health and how do they reflect in the key documents of the UN in regards to the Millennium Development Goals?” Method and theory: The method used in this thesis is the three-step model of Critical Discourse Analysis by Norman Fairclough. Theories used are the constructivist Copenhagen Scholl and the concept of securitization, as well as a constructivist approach to International Political Economy. Findings: The findings of this thesis are the close connection of health to a security and economic discourse. The security discourse involves the change of perception regarding infectious and non-communicable diseases. The perception of health has developed since MDGs and is now broadened to including non-communicable diseases, chronic diseases, mental health and injuries.