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Young (and occasionally less young) researchers, mostly from LMICs, present their views on global health issues.
(A longer version of this piece was originally published in Ceasefire ) The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has stirred up debates that previous crises such as SARS or Ebola didn’t, probably because it reached Europe all the way to the Americas, with death tolls much higher than in China. It appears “The West needs to bleed” for audiences to be...
In a recent blog, Hellowell and colleagues express concerns about the ability of the private health market to survive the shock of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). They call on governments to support the private sector in mitigating the risks imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. WHO’s recommendation for a ‘whole-of-society- a...
As India tries to navigate the transition from Lockdown 4.0 to Unlock 1.0 (quite oblivious of the totalitarian nature of the words we chose to represent our national response to the pandemic), it is worth reflecting upon our lost opportunity as a nation to address social equity and its direct corollary – mental healthcare. But let’s start with...
The World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30 2020, the same day India reported its first confirmed case. The country, so long oblivious to this developments-except for the southern state of Kerala which had a preparedness plan ready by mid-January-quickly sprang into action. Scr...
Last week, after more than a month of thinly and less thinly veiled threats, President Trump announced the U.S. would “terminate” its relationship with the WHO. As if he was playing in his own Terminator movie, a really bad sequel at that. It is not immediately clear whether the president can fully withdraw U.S. funding from WHO without an a...
version 6, 1 June 2020 You find the pdfs ( in English and in French) of this update here: Covid-19-in-DRC-and-sSA-observations-reflections-WVD-ITM-v6Download Covid-19-in-DRC-and-sSA-observations-reflections-WVD-ITM-v6-FRDownload INTRODUCTION: I am staff member of ITM-Antwerp, now based in Kinshasa during the corona crisis (rather by coincidence...
As efforts to respond and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic are ongoing globally, the strained healthcare services for the already conflict-traumatised populations in Bangladesh also need attention. The plight of over 600,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar—hosted in two registered camps (Kutupalong and Nayapara) and other areas—is inten...
Against the backdrop of the global Covid-19 pandemic, “Test, test, test” has been one of the key messages of the World Health Organization (WHO), reiterated over and over again. In almost every country, there is a push to test more, regardless of government capacity. It’s not surprising that many people feel angry and frustrated over the weak he...
As of May 15, 2020, The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq has confirmed 397 COVID-19 cases and five deaths. While this number might seem low, the outbreak has serious political ramifications for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The outbreak triggered a reactionary response among authorities in KRI. Recognising that decades of auster...