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Global Health Justice

Tag: Structural violence

Illicit financial flows cost Africa $88 billion annually

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IFF graphic

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…

Art for global health equity

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A July essay in PLOS Global Public Health argues that art and its expression are critically important in the struggle for global health equity.  Reñosa and his colleagues make the case that art can be leveraged to (1) to amplify disenfranchised voices, (2) to advance social justice activism, (3) to strengthen communities and individuals, and (4) to improve global health communication. They argue that art facilitates the inclusion of diverse cultural perspectives and engagement and uplifts marginalized voices. They provide a…

More years of schooling improves all-cause mortality globally – Lancet

Post categories: Social Determinants of Health Structural Violence Post tags:
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A systematic review and meta-analysis by the IHME-CHAIN collaborators (Lancet 23 January 2024) demonstrated that increased “years of schooling had a significant and consistent effect on all-cause mortality risk and that the protective effect of education persisted for female and male individuals, across all age groups, and all levels of Socio-demographic Index of the country where the data were collected. These findings are similar to the protective effects of a good diet and physical activity and the harms of risk…

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

Post categories: Philanthrocapitalism Reimagining Aid Post tags:
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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…

Wars are never necessary: Gaza is the best example

Post categories: War/Militarism Post tags:
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This short Lancet piece by Souza, Buss, and Alcazar notes that since the Gaza war began in October 2023, “nothing has been resolved and all impasses remain. The costs of lives lost and survivors’ lives destroyed forever are immense. The billions of dollars spent on killing so far could have saved lives, fed and immunised people, recovered the malnourished, built equitable systems, and provided essential medicines in many parts of the world.” They draw our attention to a recent BBC…

[BOOKS] on Medical Appartheid

Post categories: Medical Apartheid Post tags:
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Medical apartheid refers to the systemic discrimination, segregation, and unequal treatment of individuals or groups based on their race or ethnicity within the healthcare system, leading to disparities in access, quality of care, and health outcomes. Book recommendations on medical appartheid:   “Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present” by Harriet A. Washington (2006) Washington meticulously documents the history of medical exploitation and mistreatment of Black Americans, offering a comprehensive…

Could you patent the sun? How vaccine patent waivers would save lives

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The world had the chance to truly treat COVID-19 as a common problem and respond to it in an equitable and just manner. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, politicians, mainstream media and celebrities in the West declaring the disease the “great equalizer” – implying that this novel virus would affect everyone regardless of their position, wealth, race, or power. However, as the pandemic progressed, it became abundantly clear that this was not the case. Instead, the development and distribution of several effective…

Missionaries of Hate:  U.S. Christian Right Group Enflames Homophobia in Uganda

Post categories: Gender Structural Violence Post tags:
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Ugandan Dr. Frank Mugisha exposes the U.S. backers of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. He accuses American “conservative anti-gay activists” of fearmongering in Uganda that has led to its LGBTQ criminalization laws. He outlined how this happening when interviewed on the Rachel Maddow in May, 2023. https://glaad.org/rachel-maddow-traces-anti-lgbtq-legislation-uganda-activists-arizona/ Many people in the Global North were shocked by the inhumanity of Uganda’s new anti-homosexual law. It was well-reported internationally that on May 2 Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act that…

Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationwide

Post categories: Gender Structural Violence Post tags:
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¡Victoria! Wave High the Green Bandanas! Years of concerted action by reproductive rights activists in Mexico have just gained a huge win. “Today is the day of victory and justice for Mexican women!” declared Mexico’s National Institute for Women. “No woman or pregnant person, nor any health worker, will be able to be punished for abortion,” proclaimed the Information Group for Chosen Reproduction, GIRE, which filed the suit. The judgment means that the country’s federal public health service and any…

Fossil Fuel Shackles: How Wealthy Nations Hook Developing Ones

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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…