Illicit financial flows cost Africa $88 billion annually

Posted on September 11, 2025September 22, 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…

Tim Schwab & “The Bill Gates Problem” Town Hall Seattle Podcast

Philanthrocapitalism Reimagining Aid Apartheid Bill Gates book recommendations decolonization decolonizehealth equity global north health disparities Health Equity inequality international aid International Responsibility phantom aid Social Justice Structural violence white saviorism

Posted on January 27, 2024March 26, 2024

Tim Schwab, author of the recently published “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the myth of the good billionaire,” headlined a Seattle Town Hall event in December 2024 sponsored by the Community Alliance for Global Justice. In this podcast of the event, Tim explains how Bill Gates’ uses his foundation as a vehicle for unaccountable personal power and influence, using taxpayers dollars. He describes how dogmatic belief in the primacy of the private sector and their patent interests and the…

Vaccine Milestone: South Africa Starts Local Meningitis Production

Medical Apartheid Apartheid counterfeit medicines global health global north global south health disparities Healthcare Access inequality medical appartheid public health Social Justice Vaccine Apartheid

Posted on November 7, 2023January 14, 2024

In a landmark move for public health and African pharmaceutical manufacturing, South Africa’s Biovac has entered into a strategic partnership with Korean vaccine producer, EuBiologics Co. Ltd., to commence the production of a meningitis vaccine on African soil. This collaboration represents a significant stride in the fight against meningococcal disease, an endemic threat in South Africa and across the sub-Saharan region. Meningococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection causing the inflammation of the brain and spinal cord membranes, poses a severe health…

Substandard medicines blamed for 285,000 childhood malaria, pneumonia deaths

Medical Apartheid counterfeit medicines Economic Sanctions Geopolitical global north global south Health Equity Health Inequities Healthcare Access International Responsibility Social Justice Vaccine Apartheid

Posted on September 13, 2023December 14, 2023

VIdya Krishnan, an Indian Journalist writes about a “dirty secret in global health:” that rich countries get quality medicines and that the poor countries often get poison. Her op-ed in the Sept 11 New York Times describes the regulatory inequities between rich and poor nations. and how these inequities fail to prevent manufacture and export of substandard medicines. Rich countries have well-funded regulators keeping an eye on the safety and quality of drugs; most low income countries don’t have the…

Fossil Fuel Shackles: How Wealthy Nations Hook Developing Ones

Posted on September 2, 2023December 14, 2023

Introduction In the realm of global environmental justice, a disconcerting phenomenon has gained prominence in recent times: the entrapment of impoverished nations by their wealthier counterparts into a relentless dependence on fossil fuels. (1) This practice, though obscured by economic negotiations, perpetuates a cycle of environmental degradation and inequality. By examining pertinent examples and evidence, this essay aims to illuminate the detrimental consequences of this pattern, exposing how such actions hinder both sustainable development and the global fight against climate…

Are we training students to be white saviors in global health?

Decolonization decolonization equity global health global north global south Health Inequities inequality Militarism Stop The Bloodshed white saviorism

Posted on August 11, 2023December 14, 2023

Ananya Tina Banerjee and co-authors just published an excellent piece in The Lancet on white saviorism in global health. They remind us that global health leadership and power continues to be dominated by the global north – and that 85% of all global health organizations are headquartered in Europe and North America. They point out that, despite our decolonizing efforts, that there is limited discussion of acknowledging the colonial foundations of global health or the need for reparations for colonial…

[BOOKS] on War in Global Health

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Posted on May 31, 2022September 13, 2023

Here is a list of some books that emphasize the role of the USA in fomenting war across the world, often to protect US dominance, corporate exploitation, and promote neoliberal policies – or to undermine or overthrow governments that challenge such exploitation. Some of the books include: “Washington Bullets” by Vijay Prashad (2020) Prashad examines the global impact of American foreign policy and interventions, shedding light on the often devastating consequences of U.S. military actions. This book is essential…