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 […]

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Rethinking performance-based financing: sustainability must be part of the debate

By Priscilla N Owusu In the recent BMJ Global Health article Paul et al critique the notion that performance-based financing (PBF) is an effective approach to improving health service delivery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). They do so by highlighting concerns about the mixed evidence supporting the efficacy of the intervention.  Using Rwanda as […]

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The baby and the bathwater: can we have a more constructive debate on performance-based financing?

By Godelieve van Heteren Paul et al’s critique In a recent paper in BMJ Global Health, 24 authors (Paul et al) – the majority of whom are French-speaking academics and consultants from northern countries – declared that performance-based financing (PBF) in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) health systems needs an urgent rethink. They claim it is […]

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Public health forgets the potential of family medicine principles in spite of available evidence

By Pieter van den Hombergh and Jarl Chabot The fact that universal health coverage (UHC) is a moral obligation is no longer debatable. What is debatable now is what processes and evidence are needed to realise UHC. The recent article in BMJ Global Health provided a sophisticated view on “how to reach UHC” and we hope responsible […]

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Why are there so many doctors leading global health?

By Paisly Symenuk The appointment of Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus as the Director General of the World Health Organization has paved the path for greater diversity within the organization. He has been applauded for attaining regional and gender parity in the WHO’s executive leadership. We should indeed celebrate the choice for diversity in geographic background of […]

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Where are the economic benefits we, the TB-affected, were promised?

Deepti Chavan When the Government of India in its National Tuberculosis Strategic Plan 2017-2022 announced that tuberculosis (TB) patients would be provided direct economic benefits while on treatment, I was overjoyed. I have seen up close and upfront how TB affects a family’s economic status. I am a multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB survivor. My six-year […]

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Addressing the global health funding gap: Italy needs to step up!

Dr Giorgia Sulis Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) account for as much as 85% of the world population and over 90% of the global burden of disease, and mostly count on international donor funding for health, the average domestic health expenditure being lower than 12% (Figure 1). Although there has been a dramatic increase in […]

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Role of the private sector in epidemic response and preparedness

By Jennifer Esposito, Health & Life Sciences, Intel Corporation  In today’s interconnected world, pandemic disease threats have the potential to not only have a devastating human impact, but could also cost tens of billions of dollars to the global economy and private enterprise. These threats could exacerbate political and economic instability, and threaten the national […]

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India’s toilet use challenge and the dilemma of human behaviour

By Pritha Chatterjee and Dr K. Viswanath, Harvard School of Public Health The single biggest problem in communication, as the erudite George Bernard Shaw worried, is the illusion that it has taken place. While this applies profoundly in many areas of public health, the open defecation challenge in India lends itself as a particularly telling […]

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“Science is everywhere, let’s keep it that way.” Increasing threats to science both in the North and South: some responses

By Sara Ardila-Gómez (Emerging Voices for Global Health, 2014, Argentina) & Kati Wilkins (Emerging Voices for Global Health, 2016, United States of America) Over the last months, quite a few governments from both Northern and Southern countries have turned their backs on science by questioning its value, importance, and contribution to human and planetary sustainable […]

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