The health impacts of globalization: a conceptual framework

This paper describes a conceptual framework for the health implications of globalization. The framework is developed by first identifying the main determinants of population health and the main features of the globalization process. The resulting conceptual model explicitly visualises that globalization affects the institutional, economic, social-cultural and ecological determinants of population health, and that the globalization process mainly operates at the contextual level, while influencing health through its more distal and proximal determinants. The developed framework provides valuable insights in how to organise the complexity involved in studying the health effects resulting from globalization. It could, therefore, give a meaningful contribution to further empirical research by serving as a 'think-model' and provides a basis for the development of future scenarios on health.