War in Sudan: Unprecedented hunger and displacement

Posted on April 12, 2025April 30, 2025

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 the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces [RSF] and Sudanese Armed Forces [SAF] have obstructed access to critically needed humanitarian assistance. “Tens of thousands more will die…

Re-imagining foreign aid

Reimagining Aid Africa decolonization decolonizehealth equity fair taxation Geopolitical global health international aid International Responsibility resource mobilization social determinants of health

Posted on March 21, 2025April 1, 2025

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 communities need – and stay long after foreign workers depart. Cutting out the middlemen is essential, and more cost-effective – as leaders in the global…

The Weapon No One Talks About: Sexual Violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

War/Militarism Africa drc health disparities Human Rights Violations political determinants of health sexual violence Social Justice Sub-Saharan Africa women's health

Posted on March 17, 2025March 20, 2025

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, drive people from their homes, and keep entire populations in fear. In the east of the DRC, women and girls of all ages, from infants…

Malawi and Mali Demand Unpaid Taxes and Royalties from Multinationals

Global Theft Tax Evasion Africa equity exploitation Extraction fair taxation global health Global Health Justice global south International Responsibility resource mobilization

Posted on December 21, 2024December 27, 2024

BBC news recently reported that the governments of Malawi and Mali are demanding hundreds of billions of dollars from U.S.- and Australia-based multinationals to compensate for unpaid taxes and royalties over the past 10 years. Charles Gitonga and Andre Lombard report that the Malawi government has accused Colombia Gem House, U.S.-based gemstone company, of not paying fairly for rubies exported over the last 10 years. The government is also demanding $4 billion from French gas giant TotalEnergies in unpaid revenue…

Sudan’s Forgotten War

War/Militarism Africa Geopolitical Global Health Justice Human Rights Violations International Responsibility Militarism Social Justice Stop The Bloodshed the lancet War

Posted on October 19, 2024November 1, 2024

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 is rampant throughout the country, with approximately 53% of the countries 25.6 million people experiencing high levels of food insecurities – and 14 areas experiencing…

Kenya’s protests: The violent cost of IMF debt

Global Theft Structural Adjustment Policies Africa austerity fair taxation global south IMF inequality inequity international aid kenya

Posted on July 9, 2024July 15, 2024

Peaceful protestors in Kenya against Finance Bill 2023.

Recent demonstrations against Kenya’s Finance Bill 2024 were met with deadly repression. At least 39 civilians were killed and hundreds injured by Kenyan police while protesting the proposed 346 billion Kenyan shillings ($2.6 billion) tax increase. This Bill was intended to generate government revenue, a condition of the $2.34 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) 38-month loan issued to Kenya in April 2021. The proposed tax levies would have increased the price of basic commodities including bread, sugar, and car petroleum,…

‘Every chemist has a backroom’: the rise of secret Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya

Structural Violence Africa female genital cutting female genital mutilation Global Health Justice kenya medical appartheid medicalization social determinants of health Structural violence Sub-Saharan Africa

Posted on December 15, 2022December 23, 2022

In 2011, Kenya passed laws to decrease the rates of female genital mutilations (FGM), by imposing hefty fines on its practitioners, and increasing surveillance and enforcement. But the recent medicalization of FGM is posing a new challenge for the east African nation, which has a 15% medicalization rate: one of the highest in Africa. In Kisii county, FGM medicalization is standard. Two out of three cases of female genital cutting are performed by health practitioners, in contrast to much of…

African scientists say Western aid to fight pandemic is backfiring. Here’s their plan

Access to Healthcare Medical Apartheid Africa foreign aid Global Health Justice Health Inequities vaccines World Health Organization

Posted on November 10, 2022December 23, 2022

Global health inequities are inevitable, according to virologist and former president of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences Oyewale Tomori. “The WHO is,” says Tomori, “well, I know the W stands for World, but sometimes I think it stands for White.” Dr. Tomori shared that he was not surprised that high-income countries were buying up monkeypox vaccine supplies and that WHO was sharing its vaccines with 30 non-African countries, leaving the continent without access. Fed up with their countries’ inadequate responses to Ebola, COVID-19, and…