Celebrating the work of Gavin Mooney: inclusiveness and involvement in global and public health issues

This paper considers Gavin Mooney's contributions to the research literature on inclusiveness in global and public health issues. Much of his contribution in this area stems from engaging with Indigenous people, which cemented his conviction that it is important to recognise the heterogeneity of groups in society, especially in relation to cultural differences. He believed that in order to develop appropriate equitable and efficient health and related policies, the preferences of citizens should be elicited. While this could feed into very specific policy decisions, such as how to allocate available resources within a particular community, more generally, community preferences should determine the core values that underpin a health system. He proposed that these values be documented in a 'constitution' and serve as the basis on which policy-makers and health managers make decisions. Preference elicitation has value in itself, as procedural justice allows for self-determination and contributes to empowerment. Further, engagement by citizens in deliberative processes can overcome polarisation. Health systems themselves, if developed as social institutions, can influence the nature of society and contribute to greater unity. Mooney raised similar concerns about policies arising from mono-cultural global perspectives and argued that, whether at the national or global level, values for health systems should be based on community preferences. He particularly highlighted the unequal distribution of benefits of neoliberal globalisation as the cause of growing health and wealth inequalities globally. There is resonance between Mooney's views on these issues and some of the contributions to the post-2015 development agenda debates. While it is unlikely that we have reached a point where the stranglehold of neo-liberal governments on key global institutions will be broken, the current debates nevertheless present an important window of opportunity to struggle for shifts in the global political economy. Current debates about universal coverage also provide a critical opportunity to move towards health systems that are built on values determined by citizens and are social institutions that build solidarity, redress inequalities and unite fractured societies.