Open AccessThe Role of a Medicalized Discourse in the Global Activities of the World Health Organization
Author(s) -
Marta Hoffmann
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
teoria polityki
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2544-0845
pISSN - 2543-7046
DOI - 10.4467/25440845tp.21.012.13792
Subject(s) - medicalization , narrative , sociology , public policy , order (exchange) , political science , gender studies , psychology , linguistics , business , law , philosophy , psychiatry , finance
This article presents selected results of a research project entitled Medicalization strategies of the World Health Organization1 in which the author analyzed and described three WHO policies characterized by a medicalizing approach. These three policies were compared with each other in terms of their conceptual (narrative) and institutional (practical) levels of medicalization and their effects. In order to better understand the role of a medicalized discourse in the global activities of the WHO, these three cases were also compared to one non-medicalizing policy. The aim of this article is twofold: firstly, to present two cases analyzed as part of the project, namely, the tobacco policy (a ‘medicalized’ one) and the ageing policy (a ‘non-medicalized’ one) and secondly, to consider the possible influence of WHO discourse on tobacco and ageing on public health policies in the European Union.