Pandemics are highly inequitable. They impose a disproportionate burden on those at the lower end of the income distribution. In the case of COVID-19, control efforts through social distancing and population lockdowns have brought additional deprivations on vulnerable populations. In low- and middle- income countries (LMIC) and elsewhere, the slowdown in economic activity has […]
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Battling COVID-19 in a war zone: a field doctor’s point of view from Yemen
Yemen has been embroiled in a brutal civil war since 2015. In June 2021, President Joe Biden announced his administration would donate 500 million doses of COVID vaccines to low-income countries. Prime Minister Boris Johnson followed shortly afterwards with an announcement of the British donating 100 million excess vaccines. These measures were celebrated around […]
Challenges in accessing care for Palestinian cancer patients in Gaza during the COVID-19 crisis
While media headlines this year captured the destruction in Gaza following the Israel-Gaza hostilities and the humanitarian impact of war, less is known about the daily battles faced by cancer patients in Gaza. This blog intends to specifically describe the persisting challenges in accessing care, that mounted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are seldom […]
Coming together to fill the gaps in an inequitable crisis: A story from the second wave of COVID-19 in India
When will things get back to normal? A question we have asked since COVID-19 hit us in 2020. Who imagined it would last for more than a year, and return in waves as deadly as the second wave in India, which was nothing less than a nightmare. Practically every family was suffering, grieving, pleading; […]
Planetary health care and Barbara Starfield´s legacy
Barbara Starfield advanced academic scholarship on the role of primary care in health systems and universal health coverage. Her research on equity contributed to evidence-informed health policymaking1. On June 10th 2021, we commemorate her 10th death anniversary. Starfield described four attributes of primary care- first contact, continuity of care, comprehensiveness, and coordination – and […]
COVID-19 vaccination in India: we need equity
Just a few days after starting its own COVID-19 vaccination program , India provided vaccines as grant- in-aid to other countries1 . This was in sharp contrast to some high-income countries which stockpile vaccines, and block proposals to suspend intellectual property rights in World Trade Organisation2. India now is in the midst of a […]
Healthcare workers in Myanmar are under attack. The world cannot afford to be silent.
On April 12th, Dr. Maw Maw Oo, a senior Emergency Medicine doctor was forcibly abducted by armed soldiers at his office in Yangon General Hospital. Dr Oo, who was coordinating his hospital’s COVID vaccination and treatment efforts, is just one of dozens of physicians to have been arrested by Myanmar security forces since widespread […]
Call for Papers — COVID-19 and high impact respiratory pathogens: epidemic and pandemic preparedness in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region
BMJ Global Health, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO), are pleased to announce a call for papers on COVID-19 and high impact respiratory pathogens: epidemic and pandemic preparedness in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. The special issue will be guest edited by Prof. Ziad […]
Men and COVID-19: where’s the policy?
The COVID-19 pandemic has refocused attention on many health inequalities, not least those related to gender. Globally, men and women are thought to be infected with COVID-19 in roughly equal numbers. But, overall, men are 40% more likely than women to die from COVID-19 and almost three times more likely to require admission to an […]
Rohingyas, human rights and raising our voice
As I type this, there is a 14-year-old Rohingya girl sitting alone in a shelter home in the Indian state of Assam, probably scared and confused. She was returned to the home after being accompanied to the Indo-Myanmar border by eight police officers, upon the Indian government’s order to deport her back to Myanmar […]