This past summer, as an intern at Wemos and as part of my thesis for the Global Health master’s programme at Maastricht University, I took up the opportunity to interview Jane Nalunga, Country Director of SEATINI-Uganda, about the country’s economic and human resources for health (HRH) situation. She has over 20 years of experience in policy research, analysis and advocacy on trade, tax and investment, and shares Wemos’ view of health as a public good.
This summer I took up IHP’s suggestion and read Paul Mason’s ‘PostCapitalism: a Guide to Our Future’. That triggered my interest in Ilias Alami’s ‘On the terrorism of money and national policy-making in emerging capitalist economies’. My “summer of Marxism” provided me with a few clues on why investing in health and the health workforce is a ‘Grand Challenge’ of sorts (to borrow a term from an arch-capitalist). That shouldn’t stop us from advocating for it, though, even if the term is still an understatement, I’m afraid.
Last week, I had the unique opportunity to meet two important thinkers of the moment, Kate Raworth and Tim Evans. In my open letter to them I explain why Doughnut Economics and the World Bank should meet.
Jorge Vega Cardenas & Corinne Hinlopen Mobility is an opportunity for health workers who do not find a job in their home country. But their emigration has potentially devastating consequences for countries where the health system is already weak. We call upon WHO and its Member States to pay attention to this pitfall.
Last week, the 71st edition of the World Health Assembly and pre-meetings of civil society discussed topics of this very moment such as health and environment, or the root causes of health inequity. At the same time, the Alma-Ata declaration from forty years ago showed its renewed actuality. That made the Assembly my trip back to the future.
At the launch of the fifth Global Health Watch in Brussels a short time ago, planetary health and justice was very much in my thoughts. This is where health meets ecology.
How can we protect ourselves against the powerful lobby of corporations that threatens our health? To answer this question, Wemos invited Professor Nicholas Freudenberg to come to Europe to speak in the European Parliament, at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, and in De Balie (for a larger audience).
The shortages and unequitable distribution of health workers have been well known for many years. So are the challenges facing Official Development Assistance (ODA), including ODA for Health and in particular for health workers’ salaries. We need long-term sustainable funding for health.
Imagine working at a health clinic for a week on the run. Imagine finding out that your only colleague has left and will not be replaced. Imagine, then, having to rely on your mobile telephone for light while attending a mother giving birth. Does this sound extreme? It is. It is also the reality of health workers in Malawi.
Sometimes evidence is simply there without you knowing. I had come to Malawi to talk with people about the shortcomings of the country’s health system. No longer than half an hour after landing at Lilongwe airport, the first case presented itself to me.
