I write this blog based on reflections from a global health conference I attended recently, but the issue of gender (in)equality has also been weighing on my mind for some time now. Gender equality and equity – we refer you to some literature for the intricacies of the terms – can enable us to create a society wherein each individual enjoys ...

Two weeks of Trump’s presidency have passed, and many of us Americans—proud inhabitants of the continent consisting of 35 sovereign states including the United States of America, the República Federativa do Brasil and the Estados Unidos Mexicanos—are watching his reign of intolerance and hatred unfold with fear and disbelief. And while I�...

‘We’re through the looking-glass here, people. White is black and black is white.’ (JFK, 1991)   These past two weeks have felt surreal, and horrifying, to many of us living in the United States and presumably for many around the world. A new day, a new executive order, a new enemy. The immigration ban is the most recent, and most appallin...

I was on a conference marathon, attending 3 prominent international conferences in the area of Public Health (QHR2016, APHA2016 & HSR2016) and an intense training program (EV4GH) across several cities of the U.S. & Canada. It was during my visit to these places that I found numerous homeless people sitting along the street side with notes saying...

I hate to break it to all of you but after just a few days of “executive orders” (and linked nauseous pictures), it’s clear that with the Donald we can just about forget about global health, let alone planetary health. Sorry Richard. There’s just no way you can frame global health appropriately for the new times, in order to “get his o...

Next month, Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH), Kampala, Uganda and Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH), Uganda are organising a symposium on the contribution of Community Health Workers (CHWs) to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The symposium will ...

Despite recent positive rhetoric by the IMF, WB and the EC to reform conditionality policies, a gap persists between the declared intentions and the general practice. It is time for the three institutions to turn the rhetoric into reality.   The mandates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) include the obligation to f...

 A personal reflection on the EV4GH 2016 program   First Off, young energy, a diverse group of participants, and emotions The stage had been set: early November 2016, the Emerging Voices for Global Health 2016 (EV4GH)  program reached Vancouver, to train before the fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR 2016). The EV4GH progra...

During the Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH) 2016 training and the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR 2016) in Vancouver, scholars discussed the inequities in health systems across the globe and deliberated the power and politics involved in structuring (or hampering) a just system. Empirically, several sessions expl...