In the year 2017, “Gender equality” was undoubtedly one of the hot topics that was discussed and debated both on online spaces as well as in global events. As the year closed, the appointment of the UNICEF’s new executive director Henrietta Fore and 7 new women to WHO’s leadership team drew wide attention and accolades in global developm...

There is renewed focus on community health, in the drive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. It is increasingly recognized as an important component of countries’ policies and programs. The understanding of what constitutes community health is evolving, and will continue to do so in the years to come. There is room for...

More than a fortnight after the Times broke the news on the Oxfam scandal, the aftershocks are still being felt in the humanitarian assistance and development sector. The story has more twists and turns than a cheap garden hose, and there seems to be a new development every day, with several other organisations admitting to having the same probl...

Decent people are outraged about the behavior of aid workers in Haiti some seven years ago. Of course, this is triggered by a deeper sentiment – the unease we all have about the state of affairs in the world. In a western world beleaguered by identity crises, climate change, refugees and new values, a scandal in the humanitarian world helps to...

Last month was a busy month in the world of global health. The spotlight was on WHO’s 142nd Executive Board meeting, and the thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW) for 2019-2023, to be formally approved at this year’s (71st) World Health Assembly, if all goes according to plan. The Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) had its annual ga...

Initially launched in October 2012 by the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) in June 2016 under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari re-launched the Save One Million Lives (SOML) project. It was to focus on increasing the use of high impact reproductive, child health and ...

“Can I dispense Floxapen (antibiotic) for Flucazole (antifungi)…?” asked a roadside drug vendor. This, and many others, are some of the poor practices Cameroonians are exposed to on a daily basis. What an untimely coincidence, at a time when countries are aligning themselves towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda and ...

Two weeks ago, Nigerian Twitter was in uproar over the death of a certain Ahmed Victor Idowu. He was a House Officer (i.e. a qualified doctor practising under supervision in hospital in the first couple of years after graduation) who died from Lassa Fever contracted in the line of duty. Lassa fever, for the uninitiated among us, is according to ...

I do. I like sci-fi too, and I’ll tell you why. It is because sci-fi – and zombie movies – are mirrors. They may show you people travelling in spaceships or chain-sawing the living dead, but the stories they tell are really about the era and the society in which they are/were made. They are in fact about us. This may seem obvious to some o...