The health literacy field is developing exponentially. Four decades ago it was alluded in an educational policy statement and later considered a challenge for filling in medicial forms and a barrier for communication and clinical practice. It was an issue discussed by few. Today, the collective health literacy actions characterise a global social movement on […]
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Extending the Practical Approach to Care Kit to Community Health Workers
It’s a bright spring day with a light breeze carrying at times the fishy odours of a working harbour and at others the salt-fresh clean of the ocean. Across the bay winds the curves of Cape Town’s famous Chapman’s Peak drive. With views like that, this surely be must some of the most valuable real […]
Toxic masculinity: a poor excuse for poor global health
In 1978 the relatively unknown Australian Ken Warby fitted his boat, the Spirit of Australia, with a military surplus Westinghouse jet engine bought at an auction, and went on to set the world water speed record reaching 511 kilometres per hour. The record has lasted for 40 years; dozens of people have died chasing their […]
What drives commitment for nutrition?
Unhealthy diets and poor nutrition are among the greatest global health and development challenges we face today. Together they affect at least one in three people and no nation is untouched. The United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition 2016-2025 (the Nutrition Decade) provides a catalyst for aligning actions to improve nutrition everywhere, within a […]
Global health governance – to support the new or to strengthen the old?
The common norms and rules-based order on which international cooperation has been based for seven decades are increasingly being challenged. The rise of new economic powers since the post-1945 creation of the Bretton Woods institutions – including the establishment of the World Bank in 1944 and World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1948 – has caused […]
Poised to strike: global plan to tackle snakebite demands urgent action
Imagine it is twilight and you are walking back to your village after a long day working in the fields. Suddenly you feel acute pain in your calf. Out of the corner of your eye you see a flash of movement: a snake. Was it a cobra? A viper? Or a less harmful species? You […]
The WHO essential diagnostic list: a tool for the future.
Prof Adrian Newland on what the WHO essential diagnostic list mean for the future . The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE-IVD) was set up in 2017 to develop a list of essential diagnostic tests to complement the essential medicines list that has been available for over 40 […]
Equitable access to global health and development internship
Julia Symons and Brian Adams examine the importance of equitable internship in global health and development in light of the recent World Health Assembly resolution. In May, the World Health Assembly – the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) – passed a resolution committing the organization to reform of its internship programme. Crucially, […]
The fight against NCDs: multi sectoral convergence as a ‘best buy’
The recently concluded 71st World Health Assembly brought a spotlight on NCDs. Dr Lisa Murphy and Dr. Lujain Al-Qodmani discuss the NCD dialogues at the 71st WHA and what this means for global health . Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and the burden they have on populations and health systems across the globe, have been a recent […]
Climate change and health at WHA71: an environment for action
The recently concluded 71st World Health Assembly provides an unprecedented environment for action to act on climate change. Alice McGushin & Yassen Tcholakov talk about their hopes on the WHO to exert hard diplomacy on climate change for health . The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognised climate change as the “defining issue of the […]