Welcome to the Global Health Justice Website!
We aim to advance the struggle for global health justice by providing a platform and resources that explore fundamental drivers of health that are often absent in the conventional global health discourse. We recognize that global and national structures of domination, exploitation, and oppression play a crucial role in perpetuating poverty, disenfranchisement, and inequality – all of which have a profound impact on global health. Our goal is to expand our conversations to identify and better understand how injustice is perpetrated – and to work to transform power dynamics toward a fairer world.
By shedding light on these issues, we hope to promote a deeper understanding of the social and political determinants of health. To this end, we prioritize the perspectives and voices of those from the Global South, whose lived experiences and insights are essential for a truly comprehensive understanding of health justice. We welcome contributions to the website, including relevant articles, videos, and artistic expression (eg, songs, poetry) to further explore these issues. We encourage our UW Global Health alumni to contribute to increase our collective awareness of the situation around the world. Our website is a collaborative effort of faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the University of Washington Department of Global Health.
Global Theft
Illicit financial flows cost Africa $88 billion annually
September 11, 2025
The African Union, in an August 2025 report, estimates that illicit financial flows (IFFs) cost countries in Africa $88 billion per year. IFFs are illicit or illegal funds derived from criminal activities and/or illegal tax practices that are moved or transferred across countries, including international trade manipulations (the most common), tax evasion, smuggling, government corruption, and money laundering. Nearly half of these losses come from the ‘extractive sector,’ mostly mining. IFFs are fundamental drivers of economic injustice, and enormously undermine…
Reimagining Aid
Time to Reimagine PEPFAR
August 7, 2025
In late July, The New York Times published an article regarding the State Department planning process for PEPFAR, indicating that they plan to discontinue the program in 2-8 years, depending on the country. PEPFAR resources would be transformed into a platform for rapid disease detection and outbreak response, establishing new markets for American pharmaceuticals and technologies, and encouraging privatization of HIV services. The plans also call for an abrupt termination of funding for most efforts to prevent new infections, especially…
Decolonization
Global health is at a critical juncture: Will we let the moment pass by?
April 30, 2025
History shows that institutions often change not gradually but through sharp disruptions—critical junctures. These are moments of profound uncertainty and instability, when the usual path is interrupted and a new direction becomes possible—even mandatory. The choices made during such periods by countries, governments, and communities can set trajectories that last for decades. In January 2025, global health entered such a moment. Stop work orders were issued for PEPFAR-funded activities and other U.S. global health programs across multiple countries, abruptly halting…
War/ Militarism
Sudan’s War and the Collapse of Global Responsibility
August 31, 2025
Since 2023, Sudan has been consumed by a brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The violence has displaced more than 14 million people, more than in Ukraine and Gaza combined. Four million have fled across borders into impoverished neighbors such as Chad and South Sudan. Half the population is at risk of hunger and nearly all of Sudan’s children are out of school. Cholera spreads, malaria is endemic. But statistics cannot capture…
Structural Violence
Ship breaking and recyling’s global divide – wealth for some, danger for others
September 5, 2025
Ship breaking and ship recycling is a billion-dollar industry that benefits economic giants in the Global North while leaving countries in the Global South, where environmental protections are weaker and labor laws are lax, to shoulder the environmental damage and human cost. Costs for workers include loss of health due to exposure to environmental toxins, injury and death. Ship breaking is a forgotten issue, made palatable under the guise of “economic opportunity” for nations like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India,…
Medical Apartheid
Barred from Healing: Denial of Qualified Medical Care Deepens Humanitarian Crises
April 28, 2025
This article is written in Arabic and English. For the English version, please see below. في مناطق النزاع حول العالم، يمكن أن يكون الوصول إلى المهنيين الطبيين المؤهلين هو الفارق بين الحياة والموت. ولا يوجد مكان يتجلى فيه هذا الأمر أكثر من غزة، حيث أدى الحصار المتعمد على العاملين في مجال الرعاية الصحية الماهرين إلى تفاقم كارثة إنسانية متزايدة. أحد الحالات الرمزية هو حالة الدكتور محمد الموسوي محمد طاهر، الجراح البريطاني-العراقي المتخصص في جراحة الصدمات والمعروف بمساهماته الاستثنائية خلال مهمة…
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