‘Invisible lives behind visible waste’: Experiences of sanitation workers and waste pickers in India

  India’s municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system rests on the back of a faceless workforce, comprising a myriad of actors: sanitation workers in the formal sector are contracted directly by the government municipalities and are responsible for sweeping the streets, cleaning drains and transporting the waste to landfills; door-to-door garbage collectors are often subcontracted […]

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Not everything that counts can be counted: mixed methods impact evaluations in global health

  Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything that can be counted counts –William Bruce Cameron Do vaccination campaigns increase immunization rates in young children?  Do home-visiting programs for new mothers increase exclusive breastfeeding? Studies designed to answer these questions are known as health impact evaluations and are key for global health […]

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COVID-19 in Kurdistan: Health system vulnerabilities in a fragile setting

  As of May 01, 2020, The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq has confirmed 381 COVID-19 cases and five deaths. The low number in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is not dissimilar to trends in The Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, there are concerns that the numbers might be higher than official […]

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COVID-19 response in Uganda: notes and reflections

This blog is a part of #COVID19Africa Series Uganda typically experiences recurring disease outbreaks throughout the year is in a state of continuous alerts (1). The country has invested in the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system which has helped to mitigate numerous outbreaks. Despite our fairly advanced surveillance system, the threat of an […]

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“Using my Voice” to Decolonize Global Health

  Last week I watched the Decolonize Global Health online conference at the University of Edinburgh , where Madhukar Pai, Director of Global Health at McGill University, said that the bright spot he sees in all this is the youth can see through the BS. And by BS, he means the “colonialism” in global health […]

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Elder Care during COVID-19 : Reflections from Shanghai

  On January 23, 2020, Wuhan, a Chinese city with over 10 million people, was locked down due to COVID-19. Subsequently, all cities in China instituted the highest level emergency response. The response mandated home isolation, reduced unessential hospital visits, restricted social activities, and the use of personal protection equipment (e.g., face masks) outdoors. We […]

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Towards a more inclusive model of health technology assessment

  The buzz-word of evidence informed decision making is all pervasive in the health policy and systems space. However, it is easier said than done. To facilitate evidence informed decision making, the Government of India established a formal institutional structure known as Health Technology Assessment in India (HTAIn) under Department of Health Research (DHR) in […]

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Protecting China’s healthcare workers during COVID-19

  With over a hundred thousand COVID-19 cases across 100 countries , the World Health Organization (WHO), has declared the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (1).  COVID-19 originated from Wuhan in the Hubei Province in China, the epicenter of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak since December 2019. COVID-19 is highly contagious and […]

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COVID-19 and the Global Health Workforce

  Following the second meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, the novel Corona virus or COVID-19 outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This has negatively impacted the global economy and global travel, with growing concerns for preparedness of health systems worldwide and its […]

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Learning through partnerships to build stronger health systems for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)

  Increasingly aid is moving towards a bilateral partnership model of institutional health partnerships to complement multi-lateral efforts through bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO).1 The UK government, in its recent aid strategy2, set out a move towards partnership approaches such as the Better Health Programme (BHP); a co-developed programme of technical collaboration […]

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