MAPPING THE INTERSECTION OF POLITICS AND HEALTH: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL RESEARCH TRENDS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The phenomenon of the interconnection between politics and health is increasingly attracting attention, especially amid ongoing global dynamics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly apparent social health inequalities. Many countries, including Indonesia, are beginning to see the importance of the role of health politics in creating policies that are more inclusive and responsive to vulnerable groups. This study aims to map global research trends in the topic of politics and health and identify future research directions. Using a bibliometric approach, data were collected from articles indexed in Scopus and WoS during the period 2022-2026 using keywords related to “health,” “political,” and “politics.” The results of the analysis show that research in this field is dominated by topics such as “politics,” “health,” “human,” and “covid-19,” with main sources such as Social Science and Medicine and International Journal of Health Policy and Management. These findings also reveal that although there is a lot of research related to pandemics and health inequalities, there is still a gap in the application of broader political and health theories in some local contexts. This study enriches the literature by highlighting the relationship between politics and health and the importance of social capital in inclusive and sustainable health policy strategies. These findings contribute to further development regarding the role of politics in determining global health.