During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments the world over sought to limit its spread through the establishment of COVID-19 treatment centres (CTC) – certainly at the start of the pandemic, but also during peak waves. It was in these centres that persons infected with COVID-19 were mostly interned and taken care of. In most cases, these patient...

COVID-19 exerted diverse pressures of unimaginable proportions on lives and livelihoods, especially among vulnerable populations across the world. As the global economy was struggling, socio-economic inequities deepened, thrusting many vulnerable populations further down the poverty line. But the situation was even worse in developing countries...

As most of you will know, West Africa is no stranger to epidemics. In recent history, the subregion has seen several infectious disease outbreaks of epidemic proportions, with cholera, measles, and yellow fever among the most prevalent outbreaks. And in 2014, of course, there was the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra...

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...

The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe is described as the most important one since the second world war. That might be a bit of an overstatement, but with mass media and social media spreading 24 hours a day heartbreaking images, the global impact of this crisis is certainly very real. Later this week, the issue will also be a hot button-issue at...