?Prof Pieter Fourie from the Department of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 delivered his inaugural lecture on Tuesday 12 November 2024. The title of his lecture was “The lie through which we tell the truth".
Fourie spoke to the Corporate Communication and Marketing Division about the importance of highlighting the political determinants of health to better understand and address health challenges.
Tell us more about your research and why you became interested in this specific field.
The politics of health – whether it is national or international – holds up a mirror to society, and to the world: Who wins? Who loses? Who lives? Who dies? Who pays? I can think of few issues that are more political, and more important in the world today.
How would you describe the relevance of your work?
Understanding and improving health outcomes in the world is a key metric and determinant of a society's welfare and success. If we are able to better understand health challenges, we will be better equipped to know where to put policy attention – and budgets. It may also teach us to act with greater empathy.
With your experience across academia and other sectors, how would you describe the complex relationship between poverty, politics, and health?
The social determinants of health and, increasingly, the political determinants of health, have emerged over the past two decades as key academic and policy concerns for policymakers, whether they are national (governments), international (across borders), or multilateral (for instance within the United Nations system). People do not just spontaneously manifest morbidity or mortality – these are, to a vast extent, determined by hugely political concerns such as income level and the distribution of inequalities within societies and across the globe.
Based on your research, what are some of the key challenges of global health governance?
Health systems strengthening, diseases of poverty, and building consensus around critically important multilateral initiatives such as a global compact for distributing vaccines.
How can these challenges be addressed?
The World Health Organisation's annual budget is just under $7 billion – for the whole world. America's annual defence budget alone is $1 trillion, with the global military budget nearing $2.4 trillion. Real money needs to be spent on the right things, in the right way. Governments need to work together on global problems rather than retreating into a nationalist/protectionist stance that creates more divisions than anything else. Viruses and bacteria thrive in conditions of discord – and they certainly do not respect borders.
How can fictional narratives help in understanding and addressing global health and other challenges?
People remember stories and anecdotes with which they can identify more than any dispassionate delivery of data. We need the data, but we need to present it in a way that will help decision-makers understand the true nature of challenges. Fictional narratives can help with that.
You have spent many years in the challenging environment of higher education. What keeps you motivated when things get tough?
My students. I learn from them every day.
What aspects of your work do you enjoy the most?
Teaching and supervision. I enjoy the varied nature of the job, that I get to do so many different things.
You have written several novels. What themes do you explore, and what inspires your stories?
Writing is how I filter and make sense of my world. I don't have a programme of themes.
Tell us something exciting about yourself that people would not expect.
In my younger days I skydived. I (may) have stolen things from graves. And in November 2003 I managed to insult Beyoncé at a fancy social event in London. (These three things are not related).
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