- Trial lecture starts at 10:15
- Public defence starts at 12:15
Title of trial lecture: "How and why are public values important to understand contemporary health systems?"
Read the thesis in NVA
Disputation chair: Dean Leif Skiftenes Flak
Assessment committee:
- Professor Karsten Vrangbæk, Copenhagen University
- Professor Kari Tove Elvbakken, UiB
- Professor Romulo Pinheiro, UIA
Supervisors in the doctoral work:
- Professor Gro Kvåle, UiA
- Professor Marco Seeber, UiA
Summary of thesis
Public values of equity across borders.
Inequities do not stop at national borders. It moves through institutions, people, and global connections. This study examines how global public values—particularly equity in health—move across global, national, and local levels of governance in Tanzania. The study is based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key actors at all three levels, using institutional and organizational theories as the analytical framework. The findings reveal that the movement of global values of equity in health is complex and dynamic. Processes such as monitoring, adoption, translation, and local participation contribute to the movement of global values. At the same time, these processes generate mechanisms that lead to different outcomes at different levels of governance. As a result, the movement reveals asymmetrical power relations, patterns of dependence and interdependence, varying degrees of agency among actors, and the influence of historical contexts, political ideologies, and hierarchies. Different actors exercise different degrees of influence across levels. International organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), have substantial influence when global equity values are transferred to the national level. This is particularly evident in countries such as Tanzania, where limited institutional capacity increases dependence on WHO expertise and resources. At the same time, national authorities retain some autonomy to adapt global equity values to national contexts. At the local level, donors often hold dominant influence due to financial dependence, which marginalizes citizens’ choices. Overall, the study demonstrates that public administration’s commitment to equity in health is constrained in practice by resource dependence, and unequal power relations. These constraints make it difficult to reconcile global, national, and local preferences in the implementation of equity in health.
What to do as an online audience member
The disputation is open to the public. To follow the trial lecture and the public defence online, register on Zoom.
We ask online audience members to join no earlier than 10 minutes in advance. After these times, you can leave and rejoin the meeting at any time.
Opponent ex auditorio:
Deadline for the public to pose questions is during the break between the two opponents. Questions ex auditorio can be submitted to disputation chair, dean Leif Flak email: leif.flak@uia.no