The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions for reaching the newly-set Sustainable Development Goals. It can help ascertain the level of reduction of child morbidity and mortality in countries with poor performing health statistics, such as those seen in sub-Saharan Africa. There is ...

July 1st is an important day for several countries: For Canada it is a birthday (149th to be precise this year), for Somalia, Rwanda, and Burundi it marks Independence Day and for Ghana it is this day in 1957 when it was declared a Republic. Historic to say the least. While it may be fireworks that speckle the sky in celebration in some countrie...

Just a day after it turns out England should as soon as possible “strategically purchase”  Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne ànd Antonio Conte if “Albion” ever wants to play a decent football tournament, like many people I’m still wondering about the global ramifications of the Brexit, both in the short term and medium to long term. But f...

We live in dark times. After months of campaigning in which people who have faced declining real wages and a rise in income inequality were sold a lie that leaving the EU would solve their problems, it looks like Britain is being wrenched from its European home. 52% voted in favour of leaving, but on a 72% turnout, this is just 37% of our electo...

Last week, I was in Abidjan, the ‘economic’ capital of the Ivory Coast. I was invited by the WHO to facilitate a dialogue on international health workforce mobility during an inter-sectoral consultation of policymakers and partners in Francophone countries.  This consultation feeds into a UN High Level Commission on Health Employment and Ec...

Toilets, agriculture, sexual and reproductive health, smart cities – a lot can be packed into two days as we found out as participants to the European Development Days (EDD) 2016 in Brussels – one of the major events in Europe on international cooperation and development. Some even call it the EU’s “Davos of development”.  “This eve...

As the full horror of the Orlando shootings unfolded, another story gained a slow and steady visibility in the media – the issue of blood donation. Not since Edward Cullen – the teenage heartthrob of the Twilight series – glided through the cafeteria doors of Forks High School, has the issue of blood received such attention, unfortunately ...

Many health outcomes indicators are worse for men than women but men’s health is often overlooked by global and national health organizations. In this blog, I argue that there is a strong ethical, economic and social case for new approaches that address the needs of men and justify their inclusion in the dialogue about the implementation of th...

“It falls to the health sector to show some principled ethical backbone in a world that, for all practical appearances, has lost its moral compass,” these powerful words spoken by Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, during  her opening speech at the 69th World Health Assembly (WHA) continue to echo through my mind long after we r...