To understand this field in a practical way, we must look at it through three interrelated dimensions: working in health diplomacy, working through it, and working on it.
Working in it means participating in international and regional negotiations and forums where decisions affecting the health of populations are made. This requires a professional presence that combines health knowledge with an understanding of politics, international relations, and negotiation. The seats we do not occupy, the positions we do not clarify, and the health interests we do not defend may be decided by others on our behalf.
As for working through health diplomacy, it means using health as a language for cooperation and a bridge to build trust even in times of disagreement. Countries that differ politically can cooperate in disease surveillance, information exchange, border protection, securing medicines, and responding to emergencies. Experience has proven that health can open doors that politics closes, because it stems from a common humanitarian interest and places people's lives above narrow calculations.
As for working on it, this is the dimension that requires institutional attention. It is not enough to participate in meetings or deal with crises when they occur; we must build sustainable national and regional capacities. This requires integrating health diplomacy into national policies, qualifying cadres that combine health, politics, economics, and law, establishing coordination mechanisms between ministries of health, foreign affairs, and relevant authorities, and leveraging universities, research centers, and professional networks.
We must also move from aid diplomacy to knowledge and capacity diplomacy. A fair partnership is not based on one party remaining a donor and the other a recipient, but on exchanging expertise, empowering national institutions, investing in the workforce, and building health systems that persist after funding and projects end. Aid that does not build local capacity may treat a temporary crisis, but it does not establish sustainable health security.
Jordan has an opportunity to play an advanced role in this field, given its health expertise, human competencies, balanced international relations, and extensive experience in dealing with crises and hosting refugees. Our region can also develop its own school of health diplomacy—a school that stems from its reality, defends the right of its peoples to health, and seeks more just and equitable partnerships.
We must work in health diplomacy with an influential presence, work through it to build bridges and protect humanity, and work on it so that it becomes a firmly established institutional capacity. Health can be a language for dialogue rather than an arena for competition, a bridge for cooperation rather than a tool for pressure, and a gateway to creating a more just and sustainable peace.
