ACT-A transition, new podcast episodes and more from the “global south”: Global health newsletter – 5

By Megha Kaveri

Hello everyone, 

Autumn is here! 

As we scramble with mid-terms and sudden weather vagaries, I am happy to bring you the fifth edition of the Global Health newsletter. Let’s jump right in: 

Think Global Health ran an “India Issue” this week with a fantastic collection of ground reports and desk researched stories on the various public health problems that the country is facing. One of the worst-affected countries due to Covid-19 and a country with rising burden of non-communicable diseases, India is also a hotspot for some good examples of public-private partnerships in health innovation and working models of public health infrastructure also, in some pockets. Read the stories here, here and here. Bonus: Their weekly newsletter is really good and they do some good work on writing about global health in the low and middle income countries. 

One would think not enough attention is put on hospitals and then contribution to the climate emergency. That’s not entirely true. While a major part of the focus has been weirdly thrust on individuals, here’s a special report from STATNews on the action needed from hospitals and the healthcare industry. 

The fight is not over in Colombia. On the one side, the country’s constitutional court empowered women with abortion rights but on the other side, pregnant women still struggle to find healthcare facilities to carry out their choice. Colombian activists are now fighting to decriminalise abortion in the country. Read more here. 

The Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) is all set to transition into a new phase. The new phase will run until March 2023. However, like everything else in global health, a good chunk of the globe is missing in the process. Read Amruta Byatnal (Devex)’s report on the transition and the experts’ criticism of the plan here.

As part of our bi-monthly reminder that Covid-19 is not over, studies have discovered the reason behind the famed ‘brain fog’ in people who recovered from Covid-19. The symptom is also part of the Long Covid family and a team of researchers have recently tried to explain the reason behind the issues we face in understanding things, speech, or sleep after recovering from Covid. 

Winter is coming! So is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). As days get shorter and sunlight becomes scarce, it is normal to feel the gloom. Here’s a short and sweet piece on some coping mechanisms to deal with the SAD monster. (Please be aware, this is NOT medical advice. Please consult your doctor if you have persistent symptoms of feeling hopeless.)

ICYMI Reads: 

How AstraZeneca is Integrating DTx into its Value Creation – the Sidekick

India-U.K. FTA will tighten screws on generic drugs: Doctors Without Borders – The Hindu

Pulse oximeters and their inaccuracies will get FDA scrutiny today. What took so long? – STATNews

Abortion bans are barring people from life-saving pregnancy care, medical groups warn – the 19th News

Papers: 

Dismantling and reimagining global health education – (Global Health Access – Open access)

Use of financial incentives to increase adult vaccination coverage: A narrative review of lessons learned from COVID-19 and other adult vaccination efforts (Elsevier – Open access)

Podcasts: 

Heard of livers that live for a really long time? Even after its host human body moves on? Listen to this super-interesting episode on BBC Health Check. 

Covid-19 has brought to light a puzzling issue. Where many people were comfortable embracing routine immunisation programmes in their countries, Covid-19 vaccines were not seen in a similar way. Add to this, the harmful impact of misinformation and disinformation regarding the vaccines, we have a steady mix of vaccine-hesitant population. Check out this episode on the Pandemic Planet to know how listening to people’s stories and sentiments is an important part of making global health decisions. 

Universal health coverage is a challenging topic. Lack of vision, funding woes and the rigourous lobbying by interested parties are among the most common factors preventing the policy from being implemented by countries around the world. Listen to this latest episode of Contain This to know about universal health coverage in southeast Asia and Pacific after Covid-19 struck. 

Call for papers: 

PLOS Climate/PLOS Global Public Health has called for papers around “climate change and human health”. Read more details about the call and the deadline here. 

We hope you liked our curation of selected news pieces for you. We aim to improve our choices in the coming days. Global Health Initiative is a student initiative at Geneva Graduate Institute where students passionate about global health policy meet and network. For more information about us, check us out on Instagram @graduateinstitute_ghi