Last week, the Economist spotted a new  political divide, at least in the US and many European countries, between  “open” versus “closed” types, or pro-globalization and anti-globalization politicians (and voters). As the globalization backlash in “rich countries” (in outdated Economist jargon) is now pretty clear for everybody, wi...

Time really flies! It’s already the fifth edition of the Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH) programme – initiated by the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM) in 2010. And while ITM remains a critical partner, the EV initiative has evolved into a multi-partner venture, steered by the Institute of Public Health (IPH) Bangalore, ...

Last week, Durban (South Africa) was filled with science, activism and policy dialogues around HIV, as expected – after all it was the 21st International AIDS Conference. The focus of this edition, “Access, Equity and Rights” was more than apt. According to Charlize Theron, we live in a world that has all the tools it needs for preventing ...

The phenomenon of a misnomer, whereby a wrong or inaccurate name or designation is assigned or used, has long been known. Well, at least in the medical field. As a person from a tropical country I will not hesitate to use this phenomenon, to start this conversation with the example of malaria. Well, malaria came to be known so because ancient It...

At a time when major discussions on the SDGs are ongoing at the high-level ministerial discussion on the SDGs taking place at the UN this week (as well as other global fora such as AIDS2016 and UNCTAD), researchers Julia Smith, Kent Buse and Case Gordon have published a valuable reflection on the role of civil society in achieving the global goa...

No discussion on HIV/AIDS can be complete without the nitty-gritties of target 3.3 (by 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases) of Sustainable Development Goal 3 which ensures healthy lives and promotes well-being for all age...

“Seguro Popular” has improved healthcare in Mexico providing health coverage to millions of Mexicans. Since 2003/2004 noteworthy achievements have been reached. Unfortunately, many challenges are still at stage. The healthcare system is still too fragmented forcing individuals to face unbelievable out of pocket payments. Since the last June ...

On Saturday 18th June 2016, the Economist published an article entitled ‘Female Genital Mutilation: an agonising choice’. In the article, the author (anonymous, in the Economist style) claimed that since efforts by campaigners against FGM, in the last three decades have not resulted in eliminating the practice, it is time for ‘a new approa...

In India, a 1.2 billion people, 29 states and 7 union territories South Asian giant, infant mortality finally came down to 40 deaths per 1000 live births. Behind this national average hide both a comforting 12/1000 in the southern state of Kerala and an unacceptable 54/1000 in the north-eastern state of Assam. Out of 100 kids India-wide, 5 die b...