2023 Global Health Equity Seminar
Prof. Agnes and Jonta smiling
On May 2, 2023, I attended the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Centre for Global Health John R. Evans Lectureship in Global Health Seminar. It was nice having a seminar in-person after attending so many events virtually.
The speaker was Professor Agnes Binagwaho, the retired Vice-Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity, who presented on" Global Health Equity & COVID-19 — Where Do We Go from There?" The seminar started with a land acknowledgment by the University of Toronto, acknowledging that "[f}or thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit" and it is still the meeting place of many Indigenous Peoples. This was proceeded with an introduction to the seminar and then Professor Agnes spoke. The presentation focused on the African continent which was nice to hear. Below are some quotations from the seminar that I would like to unpack.
Note: I wrote down these quotations during the presentation.
“You can’t organize a health sector if you don’t know the history of the people”
The introductory slide showed us an image of colonial medicine. In global health we should never forget colonial medicine which intended to keep the colonized healthy, only to serve as laborers for the colonizers. This has shaped many health systems around the world to this day such as the locations of health facilities and where funding comes from to support health systems. Colonialism has also been an agent in spreading diseases such as measles, smallpox, and mumps, malaria, and HIV.
“People like to publish in high index articles, although they are inaccessible to those in low and middle income countries”
Having access to high-index articles is a diaspora privilege. Being affiliated with certain institutions enables us to access so much knowledge that is inaccessible to some due to location or institution. Professor Agnes highlighted this issue using the 2014 Ebola Outbreak as a case study. When the outbreak occurred, researchers in West Africa were not aware of previous research that had been done as those studies were inaccessible. Journals need to be more accessible and this will help ensure that the publication needs to reach back to the community.
"The discrepancy between what we do and what people can access"
This resonated so well with me because as public health professionals, we do a lot of research and publish many articles. The main purpose of our work should be to improve population health and not just receive recognition for publications. Research should be translated into action and this is where the field of implementation science is important. This is an ever-growing field as it is so important for research to translate into action. Research and publications have a lot of value to the individual, and it is important that it translates back into the community as well.
"Multisectoral approaches in public health"
The final point I want to highlight is using a multisectoral approach in public health. Prior to the seminar, I had lunch with Professor Agnes and faculty at the Centre for Global Health, where we talked about the importance of laws that safeguard population health. After discussing the healthcare worker shortage on the African continent, Professor Agnes highlighted the importance of a multisectoral approach. After studying health studies, I learned about social determinants of health and using a multisectoral approach, which is an approach that I champion. Health goes way beyond just medicine as many social factors impact health. A healthcare worker shortage is not solely the responsibility of the health minister, but it really falls under the portfolio of the labor minister. If healthcare workers are not being paid, that discussion also needs to involve the finance minister. This is also a reminder that if you are interested in health but are not in a health field you just need to connect your work to population health.
After the seminar, there were some remarks by Tolu Ojo and Professor Joe Wong and this was followed by a panel discussion.
Some final takeaway thoughts from the panel discussion are:
Trust is a determinant of health
Consider who is represented at decision-making tables
Global health organizations should standardize program evaluation measures
Professor Agnes Binagwaho is on the Let's Talk Health in Africa Podcast discussing Rwanda's solution to the healthcare worker shortage.
