The 2017 Global Evidence Summit was recently held in Cape Town, South Africa. From what we heard, it was a fascinating conference. Too bad we weren’t there. More importantly however, in spite of the organizers’ intention to be highly inclusive and diverse, and participants from 77 countries, a number of countries were not represented, showin...

The Sixth Regional Meeting on the Right to Health and Health Systems took place in Santiago de Chile from 6th to 8th of September. This event gathered country representatives (ministers and vice-ministers of health), academics and other stakeholders from different countries that are part of the World Bank Initiative Salud Derecho.  This is an e...

  Richard Horton published “The Case Against Global Health” in May 2014 as a summary of his role in a conference debate held by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, in Washington DC. He admitted to playing devil’s advocate by supporting the proposition that “global health investments benefit countries of the Global North mor...

You may think I haven’t gotten with the times i.e. not coming up (yet) here with deep reflections  on the Health Systems Global 2018 theme (advancing health systems for all in the SDG era), but instead, being honest, that before we even get there we can’t move on from the 2014 focus in Cape Town  – people- centred health systems. Not just,...

In Horton’s 2014 Editorial Comment in the Lancet he summarises his arguments from a recent conference debate in an attempt to affirm the proposition that global health investments benefit countries of the Global North more than those of the Global South. He begins with an admission of playing devil’s advocate and is consequently pleased his ...

Back in 2014, The Lancet’s Richard Horton was asked to debate against global health at the annual conference held by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health in Washington DC. He argued some valid points to support his case. First, authors of the Global South are underrepresented on international journals. Second, the scarcity of globa...

I’m just back from three days of intense but fruitful conversations on ‘Strengthening Space Cooperation for Global Health’ at the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in Geneva, Switzerland (August 23 – 25, 2017), with the crux hinged on resiliency and interoperability. The event which was a joint conference organized by WHO, the Unite...

About this time a month ago, I walked into the arrival lounge of Catania International Airport, looking bleary-eyed for the shuttle driver who was supposed to pick me up. I was grateful to see the placard that had the words ‘WHO Summer School’ inscribed on it, because I was suddenly overcome with fatigue and felt lightheaded. The flight seem...

West Africa is regularly faced with threats and socio-economic consequences of epidemics caused by infectious diseases, including zoonotic diseases. This is largely due to the fact that humans and animals share the same ecosystem with an increased risk of disease development and globalization trends due to rapid population growth and high mobili...