Twenty years ago, the world was facing a morally unbearable situation. On the bright side: there was – at last – an effective treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Patients in high-income countries could benefit from the antiretroviral tri-therapy, and their life-expectancy was restored. On the negative side: this therapy was, due...

The WHO defines health as: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This is amply illustrated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has had and continues to have significant adverse impacts on health, even for populations without infection or the disease. Even if the situ...

With the second wave of Covid-19 in India having spiraled totally out of control, perhaps this is not the ideal time to reflect on some of the more questionable ‘control strategies’ adopted by the country in the earlier days of the pandemic. Still, in this blog we aim to examine one of the restrictive measures adopted by many Indian states- ...

Approximately 491 days ago, the first cluster of COVID-19 cases was reported to the WHO and the infectious agent, a novel coronavirus, was identified. Since then we’ve expanded our knowledge of geography and added words and phrases such as WFH (working from home to the uninitiated), PPE, flattening the curve, contact tracing, herd immunity, lo...

As I speak to my father in India from hundreds of miles away, I can’t help but feel the helplessness in his voice. He has been a practicing cardiologist for over 30 years. One amongst the doctors in a country which has a ratio of 0.8 physicians per 1000 people which falls drastically short of the standard value. Like every other physician he i...

No irony is in place when reflecting on a World Health Day in pandemic times. Hope is what I felt when I received an invitation for Word Health Day’s WHO webinar: ‘An urgent call to work together to tackle health inequities’. Delight is what I felt early morning April 7th, when WHO sent out in advance the accompanying brief ‘It’s time ...

Quality of Care (QoC) is at the center of the global Universal Health Coverage (UHC) drive, aiming to ensure a higher likelihood of desired health outcomes with the services provided. Nowadays, the use of incentives is increasing to improve health care performance, worldwide, but it’s fair to say that there’s still a long way to go, certainl...

Recently, on the 8th of February, International Epilepsy day was celebrated in more than 130 countries to raise awareness about the disease. Epilepsy is a chronic, non-communicable neurological disease, affecting approximately 50 million people worldwide, with 80% of them residing in low- and low-and-middle income countries. Many people with epi...

As co-chair of the ACT-A Facilitation Council, Norway has been a leading proponent of the need for global solidarity to achieve equity in access to Covid-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. By contrast, domestic debates about Norway’s ongoing vaccine roll-out have taken a distinctly populist and nationalist tone in recent weeks. While N...