May 7, 2025
Shifting power to transform the development paradigm
Obinna Onyekwena reminds us, in his recent opinion piece in Development today, that aid to the Global South has functioned as a mechanism of control, influence, and outsourced profit, entrenching asymmetries of power under the guise of assistance. He also notes, that following the recent aid cuts “it is not the recipients who express the…
April 30, 2025
Global health is at a critical juncture: Will we let the moment pass by?
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,…
April 28, 2025
Barred from Healing: Denial of Qualified Medical Care Deepens Humanitarian Crises
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…
April 22, 2025
Wake Up Call for and from the Global South
The withdrawal of U.S. foreign aid since the sudden freeze in January 2025 has underscored the need for a paradigm shift in global health, particularly in Africa, where communities have long been depicted as passive recipients of foreign assistance. Many people in Africa have played a crucial role in advancing HIV treatment, from early studies…
April 12, 2025
War in Sudan: Unprecedented hunger and displacement
The United Nations (UN) released a 10 April report stating that the 2-year war in Sudan is one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century, with tens of thousands dead, over 12 million people displaced, and 25 million – half the population – facing extreme levels of hunger. The report states that both…
April 8, 2025
Global Health Catastrophe from 2025 U.S. Foreign Budget Freeze
The Trump administration’s 90-day freeze in January-March 2025 on U.S. foreign aid has blocked billions of dollars in funding for global health initiatives, including contraceptives, climate justice, HIV, and TB. The U.S. allocated $63.1 billion for foreign assistance in Fiscal Year 2024, with $10.5 billion for humanitarian aid and $4.1 billion for global health efforts….
March 21, 2025
Re-imagining foreign aid
Farah Stockman in her NY Times editorial decries the chaos and devastation from cuts in US foreign aid, but also calls for re-imagining a foreign aid that addresses serious flaws inherent in the current forms of aid. We know that local groups (especially under-funded government health systems) are far more cost-effective and attuned to what…
March 17, 2025
The Weapon No One Talks About: Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
A country’s true strength is not in its economy or military but in the well-being of its women. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), more than 1.8 million women have endured brutal violence; mass rape has become a harrowing reality. Sexual violence is used as a deliberate tool of terror to break communities,…
March 4, 2025
Poem: No home
The sun warms my face I stretch my fingers Watch the sunlight Dance across my skin Warm and inviting In these moments of calm silence I think about who I am Who I was And who I want to be Increasingly so, I think about my privileges My thoughts keep circling…
February 7, 2025
An Abyss of Suffering: The Daily Account of a Goma Resident Amid the M23 Invasion
This article is written in French and English. For the English version, please see below. La version française Le 25 janvier au matin, le Mouvement du 23 mars (M23), milice soutenue par le Rwanda, a envahi Goma, la plus grande ville de l’est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Le Bureau de la…
