Public health problems don’t exist in silos and neither do their solutions nor their outcomes. We have plenty of evidence to demonstrate the links between unhealthy environments, unhealthy people and unhealthy economies. These links are not one-way streets; they work in feedback loops, making it difficult to know where to intervene and how.  ...

Resilience is the next “big thing” in global health and health systems development. It is a reaction to the impact of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the financial meltdown in the US and EU, and global climate change. The principle has been firmly anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): “By 2030, build the resilience of t...

Heads of states and governments, multilateral institutions and representatives of civil society and the private sector gathered in Addis Ababa from July 13 to 16 for the third international conference on Financing for Development (FfD3), to decide how the global community will finance the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Building on the 200...

This morning, I noticed a paratrooper in full dress near the Central Station loo in Antwerp (the guy was looking somewhat menacingly in my direction, probably because I was mumbling WTF). So I didn’t waste much time in that place, and headed towards ITM – at a brisker pace than usual. Nevertheless, on the way to my institute, a 20 minute-wal...

Last August 22-24, 2015, nearly 500 new leaders in health research and innovation gathered at the New Leaders for Health (NL4H) Pre-Forum, which was held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines. This event served as a prelude to the Global Forum on Research and Innovation for Health (also called Forum 2015), whic...

    In last week’s New Leaders for Health (NL4H) Pre-Forum in Manila, four Emerging Voices alumni – three from Class 2014 (Renzo Guinto, Nasreen Jessani, Bhaskar Purohit) and one from Class 2012 (Beverly Ho) – participated in a panel entitled “Emerging Voices for Global Health: The Future of Health Systems Research.” The panel aimed to...

    “All animals (patients) are equal, it’s just that some are more equal than others”   I recently attended the Leadership Management and Governance Training for Health Systems Strengthening in Africa. The training is hosted by Amref Health Africa in Kenya. It was an exciting two weeks, during which I had the opportunity to interact with ...

Let’s face it: I am a great fan of Mission: Impossible. It started with the TV series (and you may be surprised to learn that the great Leonard Nimoy himself even played in some episodes), and continued with the movies as yes, I am the generation of teenage girls that fell in love with Tom Cruise in Top Gun (and hopefully got over it). Above a...

Imagine you’re in a room full of computer monitors and while inside, you ask “Which vaccine would have been most cost-efficient for disease X?”. Only seconds later, the room would turn into an amazing room full of data presented in very engaging and interactive visuals showing you state of the art simulations, discussing your different pol...