Giving birth amid a pandemic in Belgium: the challenges faced by mothers and midwives

  Many voices have arisen as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds to draw attention on the numerous hidden repercussions of the crisis. The magnitude of those consequences will probably be clear only in the aftermath of the pandemic. But one thing is certain: both patients and healthcare workers have been deeply impacted. Since April 22, with […]

Read More…

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 […]

Read More…

Domestic health financing for Covid-19 response in Africa

This blog is a part of #COVID19Africa Series The outbreak of Covid-19 imposes additional financing requirements to prevent, detect and respond in a timely and effective manner. Underfunding of health is a persistent problem in African countries, resulting in weak health systems and gaps in service delivery. Required funding to promote universal access to primary […]

Read More…

COVID-19: Reimagining the political economy of planetary health

  The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic gives the new field of planetary health a unique chance to prove itself. Since the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission report’s release in 2015 (1), planetary health has been met by a mixture of both excitement and skepticism. Young scholars from diverse disciplines are energized by the idea of transdisciplinary collaboration for […]

Read More…

The forgotten first line: response to COVID-19 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

This blog is a part of #COVID19Africa Series. Click for French version The first line of care, the front line, is the patients’ first point of contact, the coordinator of care, the interface between the community and the health system, and is responsible for the health of a specific population. In much of sub-Sahara Africa and […]

Read More…

COVID-19 puts the health system to test in Bababé, Mauritania

This blog is a part of #COVID19Africa Series. Click for French version Mauritania reported the first cases of COVID-19 on 13 March 2020. To date, the country has 6 confirmed cases: 4 imported cases from Europe, 1 case of community transmission in the capital Nouakchott, 1 imported case from Senegal in Kaédi, a town in Southern […]

Read More…

First line response to COVID-19: community health centres and doctors’ offices in Guinea

This blog is a part of #COVID19Africa Series. Click for French version Guinea’s health sector is primarily public. The first line of healthcare consists of more than 410 public health facilities, some 100 private non-profit facilities, and many private for-profit doctors’ offices. Even before the first COVID-19 case was reported in Guinea on 12 March […]

Read More…

Is India detecting enough cases to be able to contain COVID-19? A dive into sub-national data

In a bid to control COVID-19, India is in the midst of a 21- day lockdown. It is increasingly becoming clear that COVID-19 cannot be solved in a 21-day race. The big question on everyone’s mind is how, when, and in what form COVID-19 will end? Successful containment comprises tracking the disease transmission within a […]

Read More…

COVID-19 : Troll, troublemaker or scientist?

  In August 2018, my husband and I left London for the colder, darker, but Brexit-free, climes of Sweden. With rose-tinted glasses firmly on, we were excited to live in a country famed for its keen sense of equity, entrepreneurial spirit and pragmatic stylishness. With our own mushroom foraging spot identified, a firm opinion on […]

Read More…