Arush Lal, PhD
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arushlal.bsky.social
Arush Lal, PhD
@arushlal.bsky.social
💼 Advisor, Pandemics Programme - The Elders

📑 PhD - LSE Health Policy

Researching diplomacy, health security, and UHC. Advocating for health equity and resilience.

Views my own.

https://www.lse.ac.uk/health-policy/people/PhDs/Arush-Lal
🎓 I’m beyond grateful (and admittedly a little overwhelmed) to share that I’ve officially completed and defended my PhD — with no corrections!

📘 Full thesis: etheses.lse.ac.uk/4906/
August 20, 2025 at 3:42 PM
After years of thinking, writing, rewriting — and rewriting again — it feels surreal to share that I’ve submitted my PhD thesis!

Title: "Hybrid norms and the politics of integration: evolving linkages between global health security and universal health coverage" ⬇️
June 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Excited to share I’ve joined The Elders as Advisor, Pandemics Programme.

I’ll be leading strategy and engagement on pandemic prevention and preparedness — connecting diplomacy to public health and helping shape a more equitable and resilient health security architecture.

@theelders.bsky.social
May 20, 2025 at 6:08 PM
📚 Implications for research:

📌 Greater understanding of how normative convergence can bridge distinct goals for future global governance

📌 Importance of cross-cutting frames, ‘hybrid norms’, and strategic convergence to secure wins in contested negotiations via diplomacy

🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
🌍 Implications for global health policy:

📌 Convergence isn’t necessarily obvious—it often happens through incremental linkages in discourse & core functions

📌 Diplomatic efforts must navigate complex geopolitics & entrenched path dependencies to drive lasting integration

🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
3️⃣ Despite advancing normative convergence, political & operational tradeoffs limited GHS-UHC integration

Negotiations forced compromises:

⏺️Insertion of caveats & qualifiers
⏺️Substituting direct ‘contentious’ language w/ ‘palatable proxies’
⏺️Forum-shifting to other venues

🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
2️⃣ Both agreements demonstrated GHS-UHC interdependence by co-promoting their underlying features

Growing complementarity signals:

⏺️ Convergence isn’t always explicit—can be implicit

⏺️ GHS & UHC are increasingly viewed as reinforcing (rather than competing) w/ each other

🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
1️⃣ The COVID-19 pandemic created a unique policy window for accelerating normative convergence between GHS & UHC.

The crisis pushed policymakers to:

⏺️ Recognize overlapping priorities to build consensus

⏺️ Use ‘equity’ & ‘resilience’ as key frames for future global health

🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Through a novel qualitative analysis of iterative drafts, we examined:

📌 How UHC was promoted in the WHO Pandemic Agreement

📌 How GHS was promoted in the 2023 UNGA Political Declaration on UHC

💡Broader implications for health diplomacy, governance, & norm integration

🔗: doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
But how do recent international health negotiations view health security & right-to-health norms?

And how is the relationship between GHS & UHC be shifting in since the pandemic?

Spoiler alert: they’re converging—but not without friction.

@lsehealthpolicy.bsky.social

🔗: doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Why this matters: Most research and policymaking treats global health security (GHS) & universal health coverage (UHC) as separate priorities.

Both are critical to strong health systems—yet siloed efforts undermine public health.

@lseglobalhealth.bsky.social

🔗: doi.org/10.1186/s129...
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
🚨Five years since COVID-19, global health diplomacy is at a crossroads.

How do we balance pandemic preparedness with health systems that actually improve access to care?

Our latest in @biomedcentral.bsky.social Globalization & Health dives into this urgent question.

🔗: doi.org/10.1186/s129...

🧵⬇️
March 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Ignoring the links between GHS and UHC weakens both.

If countries keep separating emergency preparedness from routine care, we’ll keep seeing the same failures.

Our research makes the case for joint (dual-purpose) investments, integrated policies, and new ways of thinking about global health.
February 27, 2025 at 4:57 PM
We’re in an era of polycrisis — pandemics, climate disasters, economic shocks.

Rising nationalism and eroding multilateralism threaten progress.

How do we build health systems that are BOTH crisis-ready & universally accessible?

Our latest op-ed: blogs.lse.ac.uk/globalhealth...
February 27, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Ignoring the links between GHS and UHC weakens both.

If countries keep separating emergency preparedness from routine care, we’ll keep seeing the same failures.

Our research makes the case for joint (dual-purpose) investments, integrated policies, and new ways of thinking about global health.
February 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Implications for international relations🌐:

✅ Understanding how norms interact, evolve, and reinforce each other offers new pathways for diplomacy in health, climate, security, and beyond.

❌ Further research needed on norm convergence and coherence.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Implications for global health 🌍:

✅ Understanding the co-evolution of GHS & UHC offers lessons to strategically invest + advance both through overlapping crises.

❌ Challenges remain in reconciling their diverse constituencies & conceptualizations.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Takeaway 3:

Over time, GHS & UHC norms have become increasingly integrated and viewed as ‘mutually-reinforcing’

Leveraging their complementary strengths (eg, equity, resilience) can be useful in pandemic agreement negotiations, post-SDG planning, etc.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Takeaway 2:

GHS & UHC norms have significantly shaped each other.

Repeated contestation and interaction has helped both adapt to maintain relevance—with different framings emphasized at different times.

They’re more connected than we think! 🤝

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Takeaway 1:

The content + scope of GHS & UHC norms has continually evolved.

📜 Norms don’t stay ‘fixed’. They shift in response to global events & int’l agreements.

GHS & UHC norms have always been—and will continue to be—in a constant state of flux.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
📅 2013-2019:

Health emergencies like Ebola & Zika sped up GHS/UHC convergence.

The SDGs & WHO GPW13 further institutionalized their integration.

2019 UHC Political Declaration + WHO Health Emergencies Reports utilize explicitly interlinked framings.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
📅 2000-2013:

GHS tipping point followed SARS + revised IHR (2005).

UHC tipping point followed 2010 World Health Report + 2012 UNGA Resolution.

🔍 A closer look reveals both were evolving *in response* to each other (eg, blindspots in HIV/AIDS & MDGs)

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
📅 1851-2000:

GHS emerged via infectious disease control & post-Cold War foreign policy.

UHC emerged via UN human rights, Alma-Ata Declaration, etc.

Despite distinct origins in securitization & rights-based frameworks, they were shaped by overlapping actors/contexts.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
📝Our analysis of key texts from major crises and international agreements traces GHS & UHC norms through repeated contestation & interaction.

💡GHS & UHC are better understood as ‘processes’—evolving from distinct concepts to synergistic norm regimes.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Why is this important? 🧐

Fragmentation between GHS & UHC routinely leads to policy incoherence + weakened health systems.

We saw this during #COVID19, Ebola, Zika, etc.

Understanding their shared past can inform effective integration moving forward.

🔗: doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiae238
February 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM