Jeremy Shiffman’s editorial appropriately calls on making all forms of power more apparent and accountable, notably
productive power derived from expertise and claims to moral authority. This commentary argues that relationships
based on productive power can be especially difficult to reveal in global health policy because of embedded notions
about the nature of power and politics. Yet, it is essential to recognize that global health is shot through with power
relationships, that they can take many forms, and that their explicit acknowledgement should be part of, rather than
factored out of, any reform of global health governance