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Trade

The links between trade and health extend back to the earliest human settlements, but globalization has brought these spheres together as never before. This section examines the issues that have led to an even closer intersection between trade and health, asks how they impact the poor, and explores the tensions that arise between the goals of protecting and promoting health and generating wealth through trade.

Trade

29.3%

Goods and services exports as share of global GDP

Goods and services exports as share of global GDP Goods and services exports as share of global GDP

48%

Developing country share of global trade, 2014

Developing country share of global trade, 2014 Developing country share of global trade, 2014

50

Preferential trade agreements, in 1990

Preferential trade agreements, in 1990 Preferential trade agreements, in 1990

301

Preferential trade agreements in 2019

Preferential trade agreements in 2019 Preferential trade agreements in 2019

1995

Founding of World Trade Organization (WTO)

Founding of World Trade Organization (WTO) Founding of World Trade Organization (WTO)

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Trade
Nepalese police officers and other officials walking inside the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu after Nepal confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country on January 28, 2020. The picture shows three officers in full uniforms and two officials wearing suits walking toward the camera down a long air terminal corridor with windows on both sides. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar.

Coronavirus and the Cruel Cost of Closing Borders
by Deepa Jahagirdar - January 28, 2020

Travel bans rarely prevent disease spread, but they have negative consequences—and may violate international health law

Trade
Chinese men work at a brick production plant in Xian, northwest of China's Shaanxi province on April 27, 2005. The photo shows a man pulling bricks off a stack where they were presumably kiln fired and placing them into a stack in the foreground. the overall color of the photo is brick red, suggesting that the dust is everywhere.

Tackling Occupational Diseases in China

by Yanzhong Huang

With 200 million or more workers exposed to unsafe conditions, holding employers accountable remains a daunting task

Trade
People waiting at Fatmawati hospital in Jakarta on May 17, 2013, after Indonesia announced plans to implement nationwide health care, with the aim to covering all Indonesians by the end of the decade. The picture shows a crowded waiting room with a man in the foreground with a red cloth draped over his head and holding what appears to be a bag of ice against his cheek. He looks like he is suffering. REUTERS/Beawiharta.

The March of Private Health Care in Southeast Asia

by Swee Kheng Khor

How can a government achieve universal coverage for all citizens in a landscape where private care is deeply entrenched?

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A man is seen in silhouette as he smokes a cigarette at his shop in Peshawar, Pakistan May 28, 2019. The image shows a dark silhouette of a man in profile smoking and filling the air around him with smoke. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz
Trade

Smoke and Mirrors in Bangladesh

by Bungon Ritthiphakdee

Three lessons we can learn from Bangladesh about tobacco industry influence and corruption

Nurse Tatsanee Onthong, 26, receives help putting on PPE before attending to a COVID-19 patient in the ICU at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 22, 2020. Picture shows a nurse being helped into her PPE. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Trade

COVID-19: It Ain’t Over Until There’s PPE All Over

by Madeleine Ballard, Carey Westgate, The Community Health Impact Coalition

None of us are safe until all health workers are protected. The time to start is now.

Combination of photos show people wearing face masks at the re-opening of the Rood-Wooko city central market, amid the spread of coronavirus in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on April 20, 2020. The picture is a photo montage showing an array of people wearing a variety of masks. REUTERS/Anne Mimault
Trade

Coronavirus Drugs—To Have and Have Not

by Joelle Dountio O.

Africa's least developed countries should apply a WTO patent waiver, to import generic versions of future COVID-19 drugs