COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting people from ethnic minorities in the UK and other high‑income countries, exposing longstanding inequalities for minority and marginalised communities. These disparities have been particularly evident in the UK, where Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are bearing the brunt of the pandemic. An official inquiry commissioned by the UK […]
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The vulnerable are here too: Insights from Nigeria
While interviewing patients, family members and healthcare professionals for my research in Nigeria, I interviewed a 70-year-old woman who has been wheelchair-bound for almost 13 years after having a stroke. Her older son lives outside of Nigeria and she currently lives in her own house with her youngest son and daughter-in-law. The vulnerable woman […]
Historic Economic Downfalls and Cancer Care: The forecast post-COVID
The coronavirus pandemic, a global fight we have not seen since the previous century, undoubtedly has resulted in disastrous effects on the UK and global economy. On 12th August, the UK economy declared an official recession for the first time in 11 years as the economy shrank by 20.4%, the biggest reduction ever seen. […]
Ce qui peut être compté ne compte pas forcément : les évaluations d’impact à méthodes mixtes dans le domaine de la santé globale
Ce qui compte ne peut pas toujours être compté, et ce qui peut être compté ne compte pas forcément : William Bruce Cameron Les campagnes de vaccination augmentent-elles le taux de vaccination des jeunes enfants? Les programmes de visites à domicile pour les nouvelles mères ont-ils un effet positif sur l’allaitement maternel exclusif ? Les études […]
The Ethical Dilemma of Conducting Research & the Inevitable Environmental Footprint
Last summer I had the opportunity to work with a team studying the correlation between climate change, migration, and health systems resilience and while doing so recognized several challenges regarding eco-conscious research practices. The issue at hand is that many researchers do not conceptualize their work through the lens of sustainability. It is a […]
COVID-19 in Kenya: 150 days of learning
How does one fight an invisible, insidious, and all but intractable foe worth 30 kb in size? In Kenya, the hundred and fiftieth day of COVID-19 passed on 9th August 2020, nine months after the virus manifested itself in the Chinese province of Wuhan. The pandemic has brought forth some key learnings in the […]
How contextual issues are jeopardising the COVID-19 response in Mali ?
On 25 March 2020, Mali reported its first imported cases of COVID-19. To curb the spread of the disease, the government had quickly introduced a series of initiatives. These were shutting down borders, imposing a nationwide curfew, closing schools, and establishing a call center to report suspected COVID-19 cases and acquire health information. People […]
Saving lives from COVID-19 is everyone’s responsibility
In the past 6 months, scientists and researchers across the globe have made astonishing progress in advancing the development of vaccines for COVID-19. We are also getting much closer to finding effective treatment options. In clinical development terms, the pace of these efforts is unprecedented, with multiple promising vaccine candidates in or near the […]
There are two pandemics, but why do we keep forgetting the underlying one?
The pervasive poverty pandemic is a major threat to health and survival. History books and fiction frequently feature the tight links between poverty and health, but this ‘common knowledge’ is consistently ignored in political responses to public health challenges. Given the firmly established relationship between poverty and health inequalities, explained by the “inequitable distribution of […]
Hospital-based care for newborns in Malawi: Staying the course for improved outcomes amid COVID-19
As a paediatrician and head of the Department of Paediatrics at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe, Malawi, my focus is improving care for newborns and children in our hospital and supporting the referring districts. My colleagues and I remain committed to caring for small and sick newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic despite the additional […]