The rise of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as a counterweight to waning Western influence is reshaping the global health field. As is well acknowledged now, the past decade marked the transition to a multipolar world, with clear emerging leaders being the BRICS nations who achieved massive economic development througho...

Hundreds of doctors in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG) staged a demonstration on June 3, 2025, in front of the Council of Ministers’ office in Erbil and other cities, protesting the government’s failure to employ newly graduated doctors, delayed salaries for public sector doctors, and the Health Ministry’s refusal to facilitate professi...

There is a sickness. It spreads quietly. It manifests in boardrooms, ministries, meetings and homes. It threatens healthcare, the economy and social futures of countries. Its name is corruption. This art-based op-ed explores this disease through both analysis and art—specifically, a painting to visualize corruption as a systemic illness in the...

The world was still amidst the making of new year’s resolutions when it was hit with the shocking news of the withdrawal of more than 90% USAID foreign assistance on January 20, 2025. At first, we thought Trump was just having a laugh and pulling the world’s leg with one of his classic bad taste jokes, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a...

Global health financing has entered a new reality, marked by drastic funding cuts from the US Government particularly under the renewed “America First” agenda of the Trump 2.0 era and a steady withdrawal of support from several donors over recent years. Development assistance for health already fell by 23.1% between 2021 and 2023, with 18 of 31 ...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat, but its impact is particularly severe in Africa, where resistance infection rates and death are highest. In 2021 alone, there were 4.7 million deaths associated with AMR globally, with most of these deaths occurring in Africa, especially in West African countries, including Sierra...

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to represent the new Planetary Health Initiative of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute (SDGHI) at the World Health Summit Regional Meeting  2025 in New Delhi – the first time the summit was hosted in South Asia. Gathering over 4,500 participants from 54 countries, the meeting brought toget...

Maternal health is defined as the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and post-pregnancy. Although some progress has been made in recent decades, it remains a significant public health problem in India.  Maternal mental health is obviously also part of maternal health, though it gets far less attention in my country. This article will ...

(A reflection on CSW69 and the need for transformative health responses in emergencies) As humanitarian crises multiply across the globe, from Gaza to Sudan to Yemen, the health needs of women and girls in conflict zones remain consistently underserved. Despite decades of global health and humanitarian interventions, current systems often fail ...