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
You Are a Global Health Professional, and You Don’t Know It
November 8, 2025
What makes someone a global health professional- and who gets to decide? In this thought-provoking piece, Ojiako and Pai challenge the unequal ways the label “global health” is applied across geographies and professions. The authors expose how power, funding, and perception shape whose expertise counts. They argue that true global health transcends borders and titles and that all those working to advance health equity, wherever they are, are indeed global health professionals. Read the full article here
War/ Militarism
Global Health Justice Team’s Statement on the Rapid Support Forces’ Massacre of Civilians in Al-Fasher, Sudan
October 31, 2025
Like many of you, we the Global Health Justice (GHJ) team have seen the heart-wrenching images and videos of torture, forced starvation and murder of innocent Sudanese coming out of Al-Fasher over the past few days. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are directly being funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a “Major Defense Partner” of the U.S., have invaded the city after laying siege on it for over 18 months. We’ve seen the videos of young children being…
Structural Violence
Centrafrique: Humanitarian Priorities Must Be Based on Need, Not Geopolitics
October 30, 2025
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains one of the world’s most underreported and neglected emergencies. In 2022, CAR recorded one of the highest national crude mortality rates globally (55 deaths per 1,000 people), exceeding that of Ukraine, yet the crisis continues to receive minimal international attention. United Nations (UN) data suggest that there is no health emergency in CAR. This silence and lack of reliable information reflects a troubling pattern: the Global North’s selective visibility…
Medical Apartheid
Everything Is Tuberculosis
November 6, 2025
In Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green delivers a riveting narrative that blends medical history, personal storytelling, and global health critique into a single, unforgettable work. At its heart is the story of a young tuberculosis patient in Sierra Leone, whose experience becomes a lens for understanding how this ancient, curable disease continues to devastate millions across the globe. Green traces the trajectory of tuberculosis from its colonial entanglements to the present-day failures…
Alumni Contributions
Videos
Podcasts
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