Global Health Justice

May 17, 2023

Medical Apartheid and Structural Racism in Global Health [WEBINAR]

By GHJ Team
Patent protections and global debt are deepening inequalities in access to basic health and social services around the world. Their existence threatens progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and impacts nearly all the work the DGH conducts around the world. The UNAIDS 2022 Annual Report cites debt and austerity as key threats to progress against HIV/AIDS. It states, “High levels of indebtedness are further undermining the capacity of governments to increase HIV investments. Debt servicing for the world’s poorest countries has reached 171% of all spending on health care, education and social protection combined (5). Increasingly, paying off the national debt is crowding out health and human capital investment.”
The Department of Global Health at the University of Washington (UW), held a webinar/forum on “Medical Apartheid and Structural Racism in Global Health”, on May 25, 2023, to both educate and provide a call to action for advocacy. The webinar focused on
  • intellectual property rights, Big Pharma, and global trade barriers to vaccine and medicine access in the Global South, and
  • the growing international debt crisis (intensified by the pandemic) and austerity policies that prevent health system investment and undermine access to basic services across the Global South.
The panelists were drawn from national and international advocacy organizations who described current efforts, and explained how we can get involved.  They included:
  • Shameka Poetry Thomas: Fogarty International Global Health Fellow, Harvard University | University of Ghana- East Legon
  • Maaza Seyoum: Global South Convener, People’s Vaccine Alliance and now Oxfam
  • Aldo Calieri: Senior Director of Policy and Strategy, JubileeUSA (a national coalition of religious, development and advocacy groups that works on debt, tax, trade and transparency policies to help end poverty)
  • Arthur Stamoulis: Executive Director, Citizens Trade Campaign (a national coalition of labor, environmental, family farm, consumer, and faith organizations working to improve US trade policy)
A group of UW faculty and students asked questions and engaged each of our panelists on key issues during the webinar. The event was co-sponsored by the Washington Fair Trade Coalition and Health Advocacy International.
You can watch the recording here