DOCSLIB.ORG

Using the COVID-19 Pandemic to Reimagine Global Health Teaching In

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Using the COVID-19 Pandemic to Reimagine Global Health Teaching In Editorial Using the COVID-19 pandemic to BMJ Glob Health: first published as 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005649 on 1 April 2021. Downloaded from reimagine global health teaching in high- income countries 1,2 3 4 5,6 Salla Atkins, Ananya Tina Banerjee, Kathleen Bachynski, Amrita Daftary , Gauri Desai,7 Aeyal Gross,8 Bethany Hedt- Gauthier,9 Emily Mendenhall,10 Benjamin Mason Meier,11,12 Stephanie A Nixon,13 Ann Nolan,14 Tia M Palermo,7 Alexandra Phelan,15 Oksana Pyzik,16 Pamela Roach,17 Thurka Sangaramoorthy,18 15 19 20 21 Claire J. Standley, Gavin Yamey , Seye Abimbola , Madhukar Pai To cite: Atkins S, Banerjee AT, INTRODUCTION educate students to address health disparities Bachynski K, et al. Using The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how wherever they occur, not just in LMICs. While the COVID-19 pandemic to reimagine global health we live, work and communicate. Global health the online format offers many challenges, teaching in high- income teaching is no exception. Across universities, we believe there are ways to increase student countries. BMJ Global Health professors like us have had to quickly rede- engagement and reduce fatigue (box 2). 2021;6:e005649. doi:10.1136/ sign our courses, and deliver them virtually, bmjgh-2021-005649 even as the pandemic continues to bring new challenges every day. Out of that struggle, USE COVID-19 AS A TEACHABLE MOMENT Received 8 March 2021 Even before the pandemic, students in HICs new learning opportunities have emerged. 2 Accepted 11 March 2021 This editorial, coauthored by 20 professors have shown great interest in global health. in seven high-income countries (HICs), aims However, over the last year, we see that student interest in global health has increased signif- to synthesise our learnings and insights from icantly. The pandemic is a powerful example over 25 courses we taught (or are currently to illustrate health interdependence, the teaching).1 We acknowledge upfront that our need for transnational efforts and global soli- insights might not transfer to global health darity,3 and the systemic barriers to achieving teaching in all contexts, especially in settings http://gh.bmj.com/ solidarity.4 It provides a superb example to where the digital divide is worsening educa- demonstrate how equity and human rights tional inequities. We hope to learn from are a core concern in global health. As the similar articles on how our colleagues in COVID-19 situation evolves, each class low/middle- income countries (LMICs) have provides an opportunity to break down in real adapted and innovated with their teaching time how inequities are magnified in times of on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. during this crisis. crisis. Indeed, global health professors now Our collective experience suggests that have mountains of new material that can be despite the pandemic chaos and fatigue, global used to illustrate health inequities within health teaching can be improved (box 1) by and between nations, social determinants of using COVID-19 as a teachable moment to health, global health governance, vaccine focus on equity and human rights as a central nationalism, market failures, and the insep- theme, and by integrating anti-racism and arable link between politics, law, economics anti- oppression as core content and orienta- and pandemics. © Author(s) (or their tion in our curriculum. The online format The fact that a handful of HICs have employer(s)) 2021. Re- use allows instructors to centre voices from the monopolised a huge share of the COVID-19 permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re- use. See rights Global South, Indigenous scholars, and indi- vaccines is a stark indication of the persistent and permissions. Published by viduals with lived experience of oppression power asymmetry that permeates all aspects BMJ. and resilience. Remote teaching also helps us of global health,5 6 and how existing political For numbered affiliations see reach wider and diverse audiences, including and economic structures can be used to exac- end of article. groups that may not be enrolled in traditional erbate privilege further.7 Correspondence to degree programmes. Learning from COVID- Global health itself needs to be reimagined Dr Madhukar Pai; 19, which is widening disparities within and during this crisis, and global health education madhukar. pai@ mcgill. ca across countries, global health teaching must must use this crisis as a teachable moment for Atkins S, et al. BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e005649. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005649 1 BMJ Global Health future leaders to implement these changes. The pandem- BMJ Glob Health: first published as 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005649 on 1 April 2021. Downloaded from Box 1 Adapting content and scope of global health ic’s wide- reaching impact has spurred commensurate teaching during the pandemic wide- reaching interest, including education. Today, we ► Use COVID-19 as a teachable moment, and use it to focus on equity have students from many disciplines showing an interest and human rights as a central theme in global health. in global health, attending our lectures. This can facilitate ► Cover the importance of understanding racism and white su- integration of a transdisciplinary lens into our teaching. premacy in global health, and include content on privilege, anti- Our teaching must frame global health inequities, prob- oppression, anti- racism and allyship. lems, and solutions within the broader context of global ► Include content on coloniality in global health and the persistent governance, economic, legal and political drivers of power asymmetries that affect every aspect of global health. inequality, and historical context (eg, colonialism, slavery, ► Decolonise pedagogy as a means of contributing to ongoing efforts imperialism, structural adjustment, capitalism). towards inclusivity in academia. Indeed, all of us have used COVID-19 examples and Centre the courses, where possible, on Black, Indigenous and peo- ► found our students to be very responsive to topical issues, ple of colour speakers, especially experts from the Global South, Indigenous scholars, and individuals working and living within their particularly as many of our students are joining virtually impacted communities. from all parts of the world and can draw direct compar- ► Teach students to see and address health inequities wherever they ison with each other’s lived experience of COVID-19. occur, not just in low- income countries. To that end, COVID-19 also provides an opportunity to ► Diversify the audience and allow more people to access course showcase the different ways in which HICs could learn content remotely, where universities permit this. from LMICs, and how LMICs and HICs can learn from their COVID-19 response to reimagine their health- care systems.8 9 It has been a humbling experience for countries like the USA and UK that often advised other governments on outbreak response to see large numbers Box 2 Tips and best practices for online teaching of COVID-19 cases and deaths. HICs can learn a lot from successful Asia- Pacific responses to COVID-19.10 ► Begin the class with a short check-in and ask students how they are are doing to show you care about them; talk to students about men- tal health, stress and burnout, and anticipate student and teacher INCLUDE ANTI-RACISM, EQUITY AND DIVERSITY AS CORE fatigue. CONTENT Relax attendance requirements (especially if students are in differ- ► The year 2020 was a year of racial reckoning, and we ent time zones); expect and accept attrition during the live sessions. know racism pervades all aspects of medicine and society. ► Cut back on assignments and examinations; reduce the volume of readings and use shorter rather than longer articles. Global health is neither global nor diverse, and racism ► Avoid long sessions (eg, 3 hours of class time) and incorporate more and white supremacy are major issues in global health breaks in all length classes. that continue to drive population and individual- level 6 11 12 ► Reduce didactic lectures, make them shorter, and use a combina- health inequities. Global health is delivered by http://gh.bmj.com/ tion of live and recorded lectures; use the flipped classroom mod- women and led by men, with HICs dominating every el with recorded lectures made available in advance, and use the aspect of global health.13 Research has shown a profound class time for student questions and discussions. need for ongoing anti- oppression and allyship training ► Alternate synchronous with asynchronous sessions (to address among future public health and global health students Zoom fatigue). and professionals.14 This need is urgent in the context of Use break- out groups and short student-led presentations to en- on October 1, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. ► COVID-19, decolonisation efforts and Black Lives Matter. hance student interactions and participation. Some of our courses included content on privilege, anti- ► Use audience polls, interactive tools and social media. 15 ► Offer accessible office hours (flexible times for support) and engage oppression, anti- racism and allyship. Such sessions can teaching assistants to enhance student contact. be impactful and set the tone for the rest of the course. ► Assign multimodal content (eg, videos, films, podcasts, webinars, In fact, we would argue that all global health courses music, spoken word) as an alternative to required readings or books must include content on privilege, anti-oppression and (but ensure this time is counted towards the overall effort/time). allyship, informed by anti-colonial and critical race ► Be more lenient and kinder with grading; establish no detriment theory, as well as intersectionality. This is because our policy towards grading. global and public health education system reinforces the ► Forego rigid, examination- style assignments in favour of shorter, same inequities it was designed to overcome. Learning interactive assignments and open- book examinations; prefer es- about oppression that includes racism—specifically how says and short answers over fact-based, multiple choice questions.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Using the COVID-19 Pandemic to Reimagine Global Health Teaching in High-Income Countries
    Editorial Using the COVID-19 pandemic to BMJ Glob Health: first published as 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005649 on 1 April 2021. Downloaded from reimagine global health teaching in high- income countries 1,2 3 4 5,6 Salla Atkins, Ananya Tina Banerjee, Kathleen Bachynski, Amrita Daftary , Gauri Desai,7 Aeyal Gross,8 Bethany Hedt- Gauthier,9 Emily Mendenhall,10 Benjamin Mason Meier,11,12 Stephanie A Nixon,13 Ann Nolan,14 Tia M Palermo,7 Alexandra Phelan,15 Oksana Pyzik,16 Pamela Roach,17 Thurka Sangaramoorthy,18 15 19 20 21 Claire J. Standley, Gavin Yamey , Seye Abimbola , Madhukar Pai To cite: Atkins S, Banerjee AT, INTRODUCTION educate students to address health disparities Bachynski K, et al. Using The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how wherever they occur, not just in LMICs. While the COVID-19 pandemic to reimagine global health we live, work and communicate. Global health the online format offers many challenges, teaching in high- income teaching is no exception. Across universities, we believe there are ways to increase student countries. BMJ Global Health professors like us have had to quickly rede- engagement and reduce fatigue (box 2). 2021;6:e005649. doi:10.1136/ sign our courses, and deliver them virtually, bmjgh-2021-005649 even as the pandemic continues to bring new challenges every day. Out of that struggle, USE COVID-19 AS A TEACHABLE MOMENT Received 8 March 2021 Even before the pandemic, students in HICs new learning opportunities have emerged. 2 Accepted 11 March 2021 This editorial, coauthored by 20 professors have shown great interest in global health.
    [Show full text]
  • Melbourne Law School Covid-19 Research Network
    MELBOURNE LAW SCHOOL COVID-19 RESEARCH NETWORK ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COVID-19 LEGAL LITERATURE Updated 1 July 2020 Note: the annotated bibliography below is arranged A) Literature B) Organisations and C) Blogs, journals and websites. A briefer version of this bibliography, containing citations only, is available on the Melbourne Law School website at https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/hlen/covid-19/scholarship. The literature in Part A includes scholarship and selected professional literature and is divided into broad topics, beginning with general literature followed by specific topics. We have only included each article under one topic heading, even if it is appropriate to be listed in two or more topics. A note on the jurisdiction is included if this is not immediately obvious from the citation. We have only included literature written in English. Part B lists selected organisations with dedicated COVID-19 legal publications pages. Part C lists selected blogs or other online fora. This bibliography will be regularly updated. This bibliography was compiled by the Melbourne Law School Academic Research Service, using the following journal article databases: Index to Legal Periodicals (EBSCO), AGIS (INFORMIT), Westlaw UK Journals, Westlaw Canada Journals, HEIN, SSRN and Google Scholar. In order to publish scholarship quickly, many scholarly journals have introduced ways to fast-track publication, including a faster peer- review process, and publishing accepted manuscripts, so much of the scholarship listed is in its pre- publication form. Much pre-published scholarship is also available on open access on SSRN, which has a dedicated Coronavirus Hub for early stage non-peer reviewed research to help researchers freely share their latest research.
    [Show full text]
  • Symptoms of a Broken System: the Gender Gaps in COVID-19 Decision-­ Making
    Commentary BMJ Glob Health: first published as 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003549 on 1 October 2020. Downloaded from Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps in COVID-19 decision- making 1,2 3 2 Kim Robin van Daalen , Csongor Bajnoczki, Maisoon Chowdhury, Sara Dada,2,4 Parnian Khorsand,2 Anna Socha,3 Arush Lal,2 Laura Jung,2,5 6 7 8,9 Lujain Alqodmani, Irene Torres , Samiratou Ouedraogo, 10,11 2 12 3 Amina Jama Mahmud, Roopa Dhatt, Alexandra Phelan, Dheepa Rajan To cite: van Daalen KR, A growing chorus of voices are questioning Summary box Bajnoczki C, Chowdhury M, the glaring lack of women in COVID-19 et al. Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps decision- making bodies. Men dominating ► Despite numerous global and national commit- in COVID-19 decision- leadership positions in global health has long ments to gender- inclusive global health governance, making. BMJ Global Health been the default mode of governing. This is COVID-19 followed the usual modus operandi –ex- 2020;5:e003549. doi:10.1136/ a symptom of a broken system where gover- cluding women’s voices. A mere 3.5% of 115 iden- bmjgh-2020-003549 nance is not inclusive of any type of diversity, tified COVID-19 decision- making and expert task be it gender, geography, sexual orientation, forces have gender parity in their membership while Handling editor Seye Abimbola race, socio-economic status or disciplines 85.2% are majority men. within and beyond health – excluding those ► With 87 countries included in this analysis, informa- Received 27 July 2020 tion regarding task force composition and member- Revised 22 August 2020 who offer unique perspectives, expertise and ship criteria was not easily publicly accessible for Accepted 24 August 2020 lived realities.
    [Show full text]
  • 9780520282650.Indd Iii 18/12/15 7:59 PM Chapter Eleven
    Chapter 11 Excerpt Public Health Law Power, Duty, Restraint Third Edition Lawrence O. Gostin and Lindsay F. Wiley university of california press Gostin - 9780520282650.indd iii 18/12/15 7:59 PM chapter eleven Public Health Emergency Preparedness Terrorism, Pandemics, and Disasters Everybody knows that pestilences have a way of recurring in the world, yet somehow we fi nd it hard to believe in ones that crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise. —Albert Camus, The Plague, 1948 Terrorist attacks, novel infl uenzas, emerging infectious diseases, and natural disasters have prompted a reexamination of the nation’s public health system. The jetliner and anthrax attacks of 2001, the SARS out- break of 2003, hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, the 2009 H1N1 infl uenza pandemic, Hurricane Irene in 2011, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the Texas fertilizer plant explosion in 2013, and the West African Ebola epidemic in 2014–15 have focused attention on public health prepared- ness. In the years following the 2001 attacks, “the conceptual frame- work of emergency preparedness and response subsume[d] ever larger segments of the fi eld of public health.”1 The outpouring of resources and attention to biosecurity has supported a public health law renaissance. Perceived government failures in response to public health emergencies continue to stoke public anxiety, adding political pressure for more eff ective preparedness planning. All-hazards and resilience have become watchwords in preparedness.2 Vertical strategies targeting specifi c threats (e.g., development of patho- gen- or toxin-specifi c vaccines and treatments) remain a priority.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gender Gaps in COVID-19 Decision-Making
    Commentary BMJ Glob Health: first published as 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003549 on 1 October 2020. Downloaded from Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps in COVID-19 decision- making 1,2 3 2 Kim Robin van Daalen , Csongor Bajnoczki, Maisoon Chowdhury, Sara Dada,2,4 Parnian Khorsand,2 Anna Socha,3 Arush Lal,2 Laura Jung,2,5 6 7 8,9 Lujain Alqodmani, Irene Torres , Samiratou Ouedraogo, 10,11 2 12 3 Amina Jama Mahmud, Roopa Dhatt, Alexandra Phelan, Dheepa Rajan To cite: van Daalen KR, A growing chorus of voices are questioning Summary box Bajnoczki C, Chowdhury M, the glaring lack of women in COVID-19 et al. Symptoms of a broken system: the gender gaps decision- making bodies. Men dominating ► Despite numerous global and national commit- in COVID-19 decision- leadership positions in global health has long ments to gender- inclusive global health governance, making. BMJ Global Health been the default mode of governing. This is COVID-19 followed the usual modus operandi –ex- 2020;5:e003549. doi:10.1136/ a symptom of a broken system where gover- cluding women’s voices. A mere 3.5% of 115 iden- bmjgh-2020-003549 nance is not inclusive of any type of diversity, tified COVID-19 decision- making and expert task be it gender, geography, sexual orientation, forces have gender parity in their membership while Handling editor Seye Abimbola race, socio-economic status or disciplines 85.2% are majority men. Protected by copyright. within and beyond health – excluding those ► With 87 countries included in this analysis, informa- Received 27 July 2020 tion regarding task force composition and member- Revised 22 August 2020 who offer unique perspectives, expertise and ship criteria was not easily publicly accessible for Accepted 24 August 2020 lived realities.
    [Show full text]
  • Making America a Better Place for All: Sustainable Development Recommendations for the Biden Administration
    Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2021 Making America A Better Place for All: Sustainable Development Recommendations for the Biden Administration John C. Dernbach Widener University Commonwealth Law School, [email protected] Scott E. Schang Wake Forest University School of Law, [email protected] Robert W. Adler University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, [email protected] Karol Boudreaux Landesa John Bouman Legal Action Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Environmental Law Commons, International Law Commons, and the Law and Economics See next page for additional authors Commons Recommended Citation John C. Dernbach, Scott E. Schang, Robert W. Adler, Karol Boudreaux, John Bouman, Claire Babineaux- Fontenot, Kimberly Brown, Mikhail Chester, Michael B. Gerrard, Stephen Herzenberg, Samuel Markolf, Corey Malone-Smolla, Jane Nelson, Uma Outka, Tony Pipa, Alexandra Phelan, LeRoy Paddock, Jonathan D. Rosenbloom, William Snape, Anastasia Telesetsky, Gerald Torres, Elizabeth A. Kronk Warner & Audra Wilson, Making America A Better Place for All: Sustainable Development Recommendations for the Biden Administration, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER, VOL. 51, NO. 4, P. 10310, 2021; WIDENER UNIVERSITY COMMONWEALTH LAW SCHOOL LEGAL STUDIES RESEARCH PAPER NO. 21-12 (2021). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2752 This Working Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors John C. Dernbach, Scott E. Schang, Robert W.
    [Show full text]
  • Universal Health Coverage UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
    September 2019 A collection published by The Harvard Global Health Institute and The BMJ Universal health coverage UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE EDITORIAL 1 Delivering on the promise of universal health coverage Ashish Jha, Fiona Godlee, Kamran Abbasi ANALYSIS 2 Rethinking assumptions about delivery of healthcare: implications for universal health coverage September 2019 EDITORIAL OFFICES Jishnu Das, Liana Woskie, Ruma Rajbhandari, Kamran Abbasi, Ashish Jha The Editor, The BMJ BMA House, Tavistock Square 7 Climate change threatens the achievement of effective universal healthcare London, UK, WC1H 9JR Email: [email protected] Renee N Salas, Ashish K Jha Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7387 4410 Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7383 6418 BMJ - Beijing 13 Achieving universal health coverage for mental disorders A1203 Tian Yuan Gang Center Vikram Patel, Shekhar Saxena East 3rd Ring North Road Chaoyang District 16 Motivating provision of high quality care: it is not all about the money Beijing 100027 China Mylène Lagarde, Luis Huicho, Irene Papanicolas Telephone: +86 (10) 5722 7209 BMJ - Hoboken BMJ Publishing Inc 21 Overcoming distrust to deliver universal health coverage: lessons from Ebola Two Hudson Place Liana R Woskie, Mosoka P Fallah Hoboken, NJ 07030 Tel: 1- 855-458-0579 email [email protected] 26 Global health security and universal health coverage: from a marriage of convenience BMJ - Mumbai 102, Navkar Chamber, A Wing to a strategic, effective partnership Marol, Andheri - Kurla Road Andheri (East) Mumbai 400059 Clare Wenham, Rebecca Katz, Charles Birungi, Lisa Boden,
    [Show full text]
  • Misconceptions About Weather and Seasonality Must Not Misguide COVID-19 Response ✉ Colin J
    COMMENT https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18150-z OPEN Misconceptions about weather and seasonality must not misguide COVID-19 response ✉ Colin J. Carlson 1 , Ana C. R. Gomez2, Shweta Bansal3 & Sadie J. Ryan 4 Weather may marginally affect COVID-19 dynamics, but misconceptions about the way that climate and weather drive exposure and transmission have 1234567890():,; adversely shaped risk perceptions for both policymakers and citizens. Future scientific work on this politically-fraught topic needs a more careful approach. Since the first weeks of the pandemic, substantial scientific and public attention has focused on how the weather could reduce or alter COVID-19 transmission. Whether due to increasing scientific attention on climate change and health or simply because the novel pandemic virus has forced us to look to other diseases for ideas, many were expectant—if not outright hopeful—that SARS-CoV-2 might show environmental sensitivity that curbed epidemic risk in some way. Now, clarifying and refining those expectations with available evidence is urgent, particularly in terms of how scientists communicate with policymakers and the public. How and why weather could affect COVID-19 transmission A convincing argument that weather influences COVID-19 can be formulated in three parts: (1) experimental data suggest SARS-CoV-2 persistence on surfaces or in the air is sensitive to temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet light; (2) other environmentally sensitive respiratory viruses are seasonal, and more common in winter; and therefore, (3) climatic effects could be protective over space (hot, dry places might have less transmission) and time (summer might see reduced transmission compared to winter).
    [Show full text]
  • The Ebola Epidemic: a Public Health Emergency of International Concern
    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2014 The Ebola Epidemic: A Public Health Emergency of International Concern Lawrence O. Gostin Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] Daniel Lucey Georgetown University, [email protected] Alexandra Phelan Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1376 http://ssrn.com/abstract=2497542 312 JAMA 1095-1096 (2014) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Health Law and Policy Commons, Health Policy Commons, International Public Health Commons, Public Policy Commons, and the Virus Diseases Commons Opinion VIEWPOINT The Ebola Epidemic A Global Health Emergency Lawrence O. Gostin, JD On August 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) Fuelingdisquietaboutglobaljustice,2USaidworkers O’Neill Institute for Director-GeneralMargaretChandeclaredtheWestAfrica infected in Liberia were treated with an experimental National and Global Ebola crisis a “public health emergency of international anti-EbolaantibodypriortobeingtransportedtoAtlanta.4 Health Law, concern,”1 triggering powers under the 2005 Interna- This serum had been previously used only in nonhuman Georgetown University 5 Law Center, tional Health Regulations (IHR). The IHR requires coun- primates. Eventhoughtheserum’ssafetyandefficacyre- Washington, DC. tries to develop national preparedness capacities, in- main unknown, it sparked an international controversy. cluding the duty to report internationally significant ShouldUSworkersreceiveadruginextremelyscarcesup- Daniel Lucey, MD, MPH events, conduct surveillance, and exercise public health ply when Africans are affected in far greater numbers? Department of powers, while balancing human rights and interna- Balanced against this sense of injustice is the ethical con- Microbiology and Immunology, tional trade.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Ebola, Gender, and Conspicuously Invisible Women in Global Health
    Ebola, Gender, and Conspicuously Invisible Women in Global Health Governance The international response and rhetoric to Ebola Virus Disease (Ebola) in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014 brings into stark contention a central paradox in global health governance: the conspicuous invisibility of women and gender. On the one hand women such as World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Margaret Chan and Medecins San Frontieres (MSF) International President Joanne Liu have been conspicuously visible in the Ebola response and actors such as Melinda Gates have a high profile in promoting reproductive health issues of women, however on the other hand the differing impacts of the disease on women and men, the gendered role of women as carers, and the role of women in health systems in West Africa have been invisible. Other than a handful of high-profile women leading global institutions, women are conspicuously invisible in global health governance: people working in global health are aware and see women in care roles that underpin health systems, yet they are invisible in global health strategy, policy or practice.1 Women are only made visible through motherhood. The problem here is not only the conspicuous invisibility of women but that of gender, as global health policy and practice ignores and subsequently reinforces gendered norms of care and social reproduction. Ebola provides an insightful case study in which to demonstrate the conspicuous invisibility of women and gendered care roles in emergency and long-term global health
    [Show full text]
  • Dr Clare Wenham (Department of Health Policy, LSE) Has 10 Years + Experience of Research and Teaching in Global Health Security and Outbreak Response
    Evidence for Foreign Affairs Committee: Global Health Security (GHS0011) Dr Clare Wenham (Department of Health Policy, LSE) has 10 years + experience of research and teaching in global health security and outbreak response. Her research has focused on the politics and policies of health emergencies including on pandemic flu, Ebola, Zika & COVID-19. Her research examines the global governance of health security, and the role of the International Health Regulations (2005) and WHO. She is an associate academic at Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security, the Vice-Chair of ISA global health section. At LSE she is the Programme Director of MSc Global Health Policy and sits on the board of LSE’s Global Health Initiative. She has consulted for European Union, UN Women, Wellcome Trust, Asian Development Bank and formally worked in policy at an NHS Trust and the Faculty of Public Health. For COVID-19 she is co- PI on 2 projects funded by CIHR and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to understand the gendered effects of the outbreak. COVID-19 reminds us of the importance of global health security Global health security: transnational efforts to prevent, detect and respond to emerging pathogenic threats, relies on international cooperation. States, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and the private sector need to work together to ensure that appropriate surveillance, disease control and surge capacity mechanisms are in place across the whole life cycle of an epidemic, from preparedness through to after action review to ensure that population and economic health is protected. COVID-19 has brought this point home most acutely.
    [Show full text]
  • The Global Health Security Agenda in an Age of Biosecurity
    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2014 The Global Health Security Agenda in an Age of Biosecurity Lawrence O. Gostin Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] Alexandra Phelan Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1356 http://ssrn.com/abstract=2461850 312 JAMA 27-28 (2014) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Health Law and Policy Commons, International Law Commons, International Public Health Commons, and the Public Policy Commons Opinion VIEWPOINT The Global Health Security Agenda in an Age of Biosecurity Lawrence O. Gostin, JD In May 2009, President Obama launched the Global Robust Detection O’Neill Institute for Health Initiative with ambitious goals of reforming for- The GHS Agenda facilitates robust detection through National and Global eign assistance, expanding programs, and coordinat- real-time biosurveillance and modern diagnostics to re- Health Law, ing agencies. Despite progress, these goals have been liably conduct 5 of 10 core diagnostic tests within a health Georgetown University Law Center, only partially achieved. Yet 5 years later, on February care setting or laboratory.Laboratory capacity should in- Washington, DC, and 13, 2014, the White House launched another bold clude IHR-notifiable diseases (eg, novel influenza sub- World Health initiative—the Global Health Security Agenda (GHS types), as well as WHO’s leading causes of death in low- Organization Collaborating Center on Agenda), a US-led diplomatic collaboration with 30 income countries.
    [Show full text]