The Danish Prime Minister opened his plenary speech  for #WD2016 aka Women Deliver 2016 – for the less savvy ones amongst us – with an introduction to Denmark as one of the most just, equal and happiest countries in the world, of course not forgetting that it is also rated one of the best countries for women to live in! Not that I needed th...

This editorial addresses two of my current frustrations: the relentless addiction to profit-making and science’s dependence on it. There is nothing wrong in earning an income, but my sense of unease starts when profit-making becomes an end in itself. I have a hard time understanding our faith in the religion of brazen profit making which can h...

On Sunday 16th of April, the north western coast of Ecuador was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. While, the 16million or so people of this South American country are no strangers to earthquakes, this was one of the biggest to have hit the country in recent times. The quake, which according to the UN is “the region´s...

A  weblink related to a recent  UHC financing forum in Washington DC  (hosted by the World Bank) caught my attention a few weeks ago. The (PR) picture in the article featured health workers handling newborns placed head-to-head in what appears to be a routine setting. All seems peaceful and nice, but from a technical standpoint, the picture a...

Early last month, South Africa became a new entrant to the list of countries proposing use of the none-too-wisely-named ‘sin tax’ to deter consumption of demerit (socially undesirable or unhealthy) goods. The government recommended implementation of a drastic increase on sugar-sweetened beverages, as South Africans consume almost double the ...

A (by now, rather famous) quote from Margaret Chan supports the global branding of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). In the quote, the WHO Director-General states: “I regard universal health coverage as the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer.” I argue in this short piece that this quote does not capture the very natu...

There is no escape from the NCD epidemic. In recent weeks, two consecutive papers in the Lancet, to which our colleagues Patrick Kolsteren and Roos Verstraeten  contributed as  members of the NCDRIsC group, underscored this (inconvenient?) NCD truth once again. Among the key messages: 1) quantitatively, the problem of obesity now outweighs tha...

I am a trained anthropologist from University of Pune-India, and hold a PhD in public health and policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). In the year 2000, I was also ordained as a Lay Leader to serve the local Church. Although not a trained theologian, my interest in theology does sustain till date. In search of a...

If you’re a young health (systems) researcher, I’m sure you will identify with me when I talk about the challenges many of us face in the broader academic environment (including in the vastly cooler world of health systems research in which you from to time get to enjoy Lucy Gilson’s YMCA dance moves during serious meetings, or can talk  ...