November 20, 2024
Poem: My morning cup of coffee
In the quiet early hours of the day I pour myself a cup of coffee And through my bleary swollen eyes I catch up to what has unfurled In the world as I have slept I see images of crumbling buildings in war torn zones And children with missing limbs I…
October 29, 2024
Decolonizing Global Health: Shared Responsibility of Global North and South in Disrupting Power Dynamics
Since its beginnings, the field of global health has been structured by power dynamics which privilege the work of the Global North. Efforts to change this status quo have been incrementing as years go by. However, institutions and researchers from the Global South still face many systemic barriers. Both geopolitical hemispheres need to address this…
October 20, 2024
Midwives on the Frontline: The Mental Health Toll in Haiti
Sara Jean is a midwife and mother living in Haiti. On World Mental Health Day, she shared her experience providing care for pregnant people and being pregnant herself amid political instability. In response to a question gauging the impact of the political crisis on her mental health and well-being, Jean reveals: “The ongoing political crisis…
October 19, 2024
Sudan’s Forgotten War
Ezzeldin Saleh and colleagues, in the October 2024 Lancet, draw attention to the horrific and unprecedented conflict in Sudan that has caused immense suffering for the Sudanese people since April 2023. Nearly 11 million people have been internally displaced, and 2.3 million have sought refugee status in neighboring countries. The economy has collapsed, and famine…
Power, Injustice & Exploitation are Key Elements of Global Health Colonialism
David McCoy, Anuj Kapilashrami and co-authors argue in the Bulletin of the WHO that an agenda for decolonization among global health practitioners must address the corporate and financialized power, injustice, exploitation, wealth extraction and profiteering that is widespread today. They present a three-part decolonization agenda for action to: 1) address the power asymmetries between global…
October 18, 2024
Medical Science not Being Shared Equitably
Systemic inequities in access to the fruits of science and medical technology continue to disadvantage the Global South. These inequities are rooted in colonial legacies and capitalist exploitation, argue Madhu Pai and Seye Abimbola in the August 2024 issue of Science. Examples such as the COVID-19 vaccine distribution and access to life- saving treatments like lenacapavir…
Bitten By Inequity: Why Vulnerable Communities are Most Affected by Snakebites
Venomous snakebites disproportionally affect the poorest and most isolated communities in rural areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, where access to anti-venom and healthcare is scarce. The lack of interest from wealthy countries and donors stems from that snakebites do not pose a health security threat to them, as there’s no risk of cross-border…
October 17, 2024
Racism in U.S. Hospitals: Black Women Face Unnecessary C-Sections
C-section delivery is the most common surgery in American hospitals, accounting for about 30 percent of births- double the proportion recommended by the World Health Organization. While lifesaving in some cases, unnecessary C-sections increase the risk of complications for mothers and result in higher medical bills. A recent study showed that Black women in the…
October 1, 2024
IMF imposing austerity on new Sri Lanka government
The new wave of IMF-imposed austerity measures is now reaching Sri Lanka, and their newly elected center-left government is challenging the usual IMF terms of social welfare cuts, rise in the VAT, and other measures that have the effect of doubling the cost of living and reducing the real wages by half for those that…
September 6, 2024
UW Alumna Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi Killed by Israeli Military
Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Psychology and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures in June of this year. The activist was killed by Israel’s military on September 6 at an International Solidarity Movement protest against Israeli settlement expansions in the West Bank, an occupied territory in Palestine. Eygi…
