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 […]
Latest articles
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 […]
Why Informed Patients are Key to Addressing India’s TB Crisis ?
From close to a decade of experience in working on Tuberculosis (TB) in India, I have noticed a constant refrain from the stories and narratives of the TB affected: ‘we didn’t know anything about TB.’ An equally common connected complaint is: ‘we were never provided the relevant information needed to fight TB.’ Why do patients […]
Can the National Nutrition Mission address the nutrition maladies in India?
The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi unveiled a vision to fight malnutrition in India on 8th March 2018 with the launch of a new program called POSHAN ABHIYAAN or National Nutrition Mission (NNM). The program comes with a budget of ₹ 9000 crore (₹ 90,000 million or 1384 million US$) for three years […]
We need to question all ‘donor fads’, not only performance-based financing
By Shola Molemodile I applaud Paul and colleagues, authors of the recent BMJ Global Health paper on performance-based financing in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), for being bold. We need more daring authors in health systems and global health, who are unafraid to state the obvious as these authors have done. While many may be […]
How to ask for more trouble in an ailing health system
By Meena Putturaj Photo by Geralt under CC 0 India is one of the world’s largest economies and its health system is ranked 154th globally by the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Time and again, India has expressed its commitment to achieving universal health coverage (UHC), but are the policy choices being made in […]
Towards a more balanced rethinking of performance-based financing
By Maarten Oranje In a recently published paper in BMJ Global Health, a group of authors (Paul et al) challenged overly optimistic views on performance-based financing (PBF) in the health sector, and its implementation in low- and middle-income countries. While some of the issues they raised are legitimate, the paper paints an overall picture of […]
Trade versus health: an old argument with new hope for tobacco control in India
By Monika Arora and Soumyadeep Bhaumik ‘Two steps forward, one step back’ is probably the most appropriate catchphrase to describe the arduous progress that India has made in the use of pictorial health warnings (PHW) on tobacco products. PHWs were first implemented in India in 2009 after repeated directives from High Courts and the Supreme Court […]