Rakesh Parashar
1* 
, Veena Sriram
2,3 , Sharmishtha Nanda
4 , Frayashti Shekhawat
51 Health Policy and Systems, Sambodhi Research and communications, Noida, India
2 School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
3 School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
4 Independent Researcher, New Delhi, India
5 Global Studies Ambedkar University, Delhi, India
Abstract
To understand the role of power in health policy processes in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts, it is necessary to engage with global and local power structures and their historical contexts. In this commentary, we outline three dimensions that shape a dominant power in health policy processes—the biomedical power. We propose that understanding the linkages between medical power and colonialism; the close connection of public health, medicine and elite networks; and the intersectionalities that shape the powers of medical professionals can offer the means to examine the biomedical hegemony in health policy processes. Additionally we suggest that a more nuanced understanding of the interaction of local powers with global funding can offer some entry points to achieving more equitable and interdisciplinary health policy processes in LMICs.