The Spirit of Global Health The World Health Organization and the 'Spiritual Dimension' of Health, 1946-2021

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Synopsis

Since the beginning of the World Health Organization, many of its staff members, regional offices, member states, and directors-general have grappled with the question of what a 'spiritual dimension' of health looks like, and how it might enrich the health policies advocated by their organisations. Contrary to the wide-spread perception that 'spirituality' is primarily related to palliative care and has emerged relatively recently within the organisation, this study
shows that its history is considerably longer and more complex, and has been closely connected to the WHO's ethical aspirations, its quest for more holistic and equitable healthcare, and its struggle with the colonial legacy of international health organisations. While such ideals and struggles
silently motivated many of the key actors and policies - such as the provision of universal primary healthcare - which for decades have embodied the organisation's loftiest aspirations, the WHO's official relationship with 'spirituality' advanced in fits, leaps, and setbacks. At times creative and interdisciplinary, at others deeply political, this process was marked by cycles of institutional forgetting and remembering. Rather than as a triumph of religious lobbyists, this book argues, the
'spiritual dimension' of health may be better understood as a 'ghost' that has haunted - and continues to haunt - the WHO as it comes to terms with its mandate of advancing health as a state of 'complete well-being' available to all.

Book details

Author:
Simon Peng-Keller, Fabian Winiger, Raphael Rauch
ISBN:
9780192689245
Related ISBNs:
9780192689238, 9780192865502
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
Pages:
256
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
Yes
Date of addition:
2022-12-21
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2022
Copyright by:
Simon Peng-Keller, Fabian Winiger, and Raphael Rauch 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Nonfiction, Religion and Spirituality, Science