Skip to content

Moving Beyond Allyship in the Decolonization of Global Health

The University of Washington School of Public Health’s Alison Wiyeh, MD, MSc (PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology with a concentration in public policy and management) and Ferdinand Mukumbang, PhD, MS (Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health) recently published a correspondence in The Lancet, “Global South leaders should strengthen strategic capacity“. The commentary describes the limitations of relying on Global North allyship in the decolonization of global health. Wiyeh and Mukumbang’s argument is particularly salient following current…

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 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…

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

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…

Defunding UNWRA in Gaza is ‘collective punishment’ – Lancet & Health Justice Organizations

Health and political leaders globally have condemned defunding of UNRWA, the principle lifeline for the people of Gaza.  Sharmila Devi, in the current issue of Lancet, quotes UN leaders and aid agency leaders (including WHO) “no other entity has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2·2 million people in Gaza urgently need,”  the cuts are “collective punishment,” and “if a teacher is found to be a murderer, we don’t get calls to defund the school…

Wars are never necessary: Gaza is the best example

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…

Hollow Promises and True Adversaries

Decolonization in global health has gained popularity as a trendy topic, but the language of equity and justice falls short when it comes to practice.  Richard Horton’s “Offline: The case for global health” (Lancet, May 2023) pushes us to struggle against deeper issues in our field, including power and money imbalances, unearned privileges, racism, and the omniscience to decide the narrative and tell the global south what it needs. While global health professionals engage in internal battles, the true adversaries…

Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion nationwide

¡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

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…

[BOOKS] on Decolonization

Here are book recommendations on decolonizing the global health space:   “Wretched of the Earth” by Frantz Fanon (1961) Fanon’s seminal work on decolonization explores the psychological and sociopolitical effects of colonialism, offering critical insights into the process of liberation and self-determination. “The Colonizer and the Colonized” by Albert Memmi (1957) Memmi’s analysis delves into the complex dynamics between colonizers and the colonized, providing a nuanced examination of power and resistance during the process of decolonization. “Black Skin, White Masks”…