Blog

Comprehensive Cleft Care in Low and Middle Income Countries

Comprehensive Cleft Care: The Key to Holistic Cleft Treatment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

In recent years, refinements in surgery, along with a better understanding of psychological, dental, nutritional and vocal needs of children born with cleft lip and/or palate, have greatly improved their quality of life. Comprehensive Cleft Care (CCC) is the integration of essential treatments beyond surgical care in cleft management, inclusive of nutritional counseling, orthodontic and general dental/oral care, speech therapy and psychosocial support. The fundamentals of cleft care are primarily dictated by the needs of patients and their families, as well as the capacity of healthcare facilities. Community based practitioners and primary care units make up the backbone of healthcare systems in LMICs. Therefore, early outreach activities remain the core of treatment goals in such settings.

By Eleleta Surafel Abay, ago
africa concept map

Religious perspective on health: why western practitioners miss the mark in African public health

Effective public health interventions must be dynamic, extending beyond a clinical purview to address health inequities between the global north and south. Global health “involves many disciplines within and beyond the health sciences” and, therefore, should be able to account for and meet the needs of local populations by stepping out of the western biomedical perspective. However, when dominant institutions and NGOs are rooted in western culture, intervention design often fails to account for the Read more…

By Kat Morgan, ago
HIV Stigma

HIV: The Paradigm of Inequality- Renewed Pride, Same Stigma

June is the Pride Month to celebrate the LGBT community and today, June 28th, cultures across the world celebrate the Pride Day, commemorating the Stonewall riots which occurred 52 years ago in New York City. The fight for LGBT rights has seen several victories since then, but it is far from over. It still needs to be renewed and continue to face injustice. Last month, I came across some news that made me reflect upon Read more…

By Almudena Sanz Gutierrez, ago
Refugees Day

Honouring Refugees – Together, We Heal, Learn & Shine!

“Refugees are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, with the same hopes and ambitions as us—except that a twist of fate has bound their lives to a global refugee crisis on an unprecedented scale.” Khaled Hosseini Standing in Solidarity with Refugees Around the world, 82 million people have been forced to flee their homes, food crises have worsened, with protracted conflict, extreme weather and the pandemic exacerbating shortages, as many as 115 million people have been Read more…

By Leah Sarah Peer, ago
Health Footprint

Climate Footprints of Healthcare

Climate change is a global health threat—contributing to heat waves, storms, floods, droughts and fires, altered infectious disease patterns, food shortages, and air pollution.  It adds an increased burden on  healthcare systems across the world. But less is known about the reverse: the environmental footprints of the healthcare sector have not been traced enough.  Healthcare’s Climate Footprint The Healthcare sector is responsible for a substantial share of the world’s emission of greenhouse gases and air Read more…

By Preeti Shakya, ago
Destigmatizing menstruation

Destigmatizing menstruation in Nepal

Dr. Preeti Shakya is a medical doctor from Nepal who founded Project “In Her Hands” in 2017 with an aim to destigmatize menstruation and normalize conversations around it. In this interview, she tells us about what led to starting this initiative and how it’s like working with the local community.  1.  What are the main goals of the project to destigmatize menstruation ‘In Her Hands’? Menstruation is still a taboo subject in many developing countries Read more…

By Preeti Shakya, ago
Trachoma

LET’S TALK ABOUT NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES: TRACHOMA

Two weeks ago, on 20th April, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that  Gambia had eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. Although this is great news for the global health community, to fully understand the relevance of it, it is crucial to talk about trachoma as a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) and about NTDs themselves still posing one of the greatest challenges for health equity. Neglected Tropical Diseases: What Are They and Why Are Read more…

By Almudena Sanz Gutierrez, ago
Malaria World Day

The Forgotten Epidemic: A Malaria-Free World Starts With Us

“Health is a human right, not a privilege. No one should get sick and die from diseases that are preventable and treatable. All our efforts in the response and green recovery to COVID-19 need to ensure that other diseases, such as malaria, are not neglected. We must continue to invest in youth-led solutions to combat malaria around the world”.  – Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth A Human Rights Issue: Malaria Read more…

By Leah Sarah Peer, ago
Solidarity

WHY AREN’T WE SERIOUS ABOUT SOLIDARITY?

To find out whether solidarity could play a role in societal efforts to reduce health inequalities, in this blog I will take you along in my journey across the main drivers of public health actions. We will discover the role public health ethics plays and how it differs from traditional well-known bioethics, only to find out solidarity is one of its main moral values. Finally, literature about solidarity’s potential will bring us back to the Read more…

By Almudena Sanz Gutierrez, ago
Covid and climate change: two crises

A Tale of Two Crises: COVID and climate change

Humankind is facing the overlap of two crises with unprecedented impacts on our society: COVID- 19 and climate change. COVID-19 and the climate crisis have exposed the fact that the poorest and most marginalized people in society are the ones suffering most. In both crises, we must ensure that the most vulnerable ones receive the attention, guidance and assistance they need. Coordinating the responses and decisions being made now creates an opportunity to improve public health systems and create a more sustainable economic future for everyone, reducing the chances of a new pandemic.

By Flávia Monteiro Borges, ago