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Dr. Goran Zangana

MBChB, MPH, MRCP(UK), MRCPE, PhD. Board Member, Health Systems Global; Lead for International Medical Graduates, NHS Lothian (Scotland).
 

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Blogs

The Meningitis Outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan: Addressing the Crisis

An alarming outbreak of  meningitis has been gripping the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) since mid-April. Reminiscent of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the lack of information and transparency surrounding the disease has hindered efforts to understand its causes and the affected population. Informal reports suggest that the...

Can the private health market survive COVID-19? The case of private hospitals in Kurdistan

In a recent blog, Hellowell and colleagues express concerns about the ability of the private health market to survive the shock of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). They call on governments to support the private sector in mitigating the risks imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. WHO’s recommendation for a ‘whole-of-society- ...

COVID-19 in Kurdistan: ‘To a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail.’

As of May 15, 2020, The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq has confirmed 397 COVID-19 cases and five deaths. While this number might seem low, the outbreak has serious political ramifications for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The outbreak triggered a reactionary response among authorities in KRI. Recognising that decades of au...

Doctors are under attack in Kurdistan

Doctor Shayan Askary was one the many doctors who decided to boycott work and demand better working conditions through a protest that started on 25 March  2018, in the streets of Erbil in Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI). What she and her colleagues did not expect was the violence encountered from the authorities refusing to respond to their dema...

Where are all the people from the Middle East? Participation from MENA in EV4GH

Mid-afternoon, week-II of the Emerging Voices for Global Health program, I look at the participants around me at the 2016 Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH) and notice that a policymaker who just arrived and I are the only ones from the Middle East and North African (MENA) region The limited participation from the MENA region is intriguin...