coloniality, elite networks and intersectionality: key concepts in understanding biomedical power and equity in health policy processes; comment on “power dynamics among health professionals in nigeria: a case study of the global fund policy process”

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.