News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

Bass (Dicentrarchus Labrax)

News Flash 501

Weekly Snapshot of Public Health Challenges

 

Civil Society Organisations Say: EU trade deals must not undermine democratic rights

Aussie companies to lose right to sue under free trade pacts

Webinar registration: Tackling and preventing medical deserts with the Medical Deserts Diagnostic Tool Monday November 21st, 2022 Time: 12:00 – 13:00 (CET)

WHO, WIPO, WTO to hold technical symposium on response, preparedness to future pandemics

How to end pandemics

EMA recommends approval of VidPrevtyn Beta as a COVID 19 booster vaccine

Sustaining gains made in the HIV response as we fight Ebola

Trials of Three Ebola Candidate Vaccines Set for Uganda; India’s Covaxin Vaccine Still Suspended by WHO

Who killed the COVID vaccine waiver?

The Waiver that Wasn’t: Is the pharma lobby responsible?

How Do You Spell Deadlock? T-R-I-P-S

WHO Biosimilar Guidelines Are a Tepid Attempt to Improve Access and Affordability

Detecting falsified oral contraceptives by visual assessment and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (350–2500 nm): the need for supplementing traditional pharmacopeia techniques and the public health implications

The World Needs New Antibiotics. A Proposed US Program to Develop Them Would Pay Off 28:1

Uppsala Monitoring Center: Are you wondering how reporting side effects can help make medicines safer?

Diabetes challenges

Déjà Vu: Within Our Grasp by Sharman Apt Russell

Colombia Votes to Tax Junk Food and Sugary Drinks

East Africa food crisis – Breaking the cycle of drought, hunger and famine

Human Rights Reader 655 FOR CENTURIES, CAPITALISM AND GENUINE DEMOCRACY WERE ADVERSARIES; HUMAN RIGHTS WERE NOT FORMALLY IN PLACE YET

#HealthToo as a research project established by Women in Global Health to document the stories of women health workers who have experienced Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH) in their place of work

Are we really ‘one’ in ‘One Health’?

India’s rapid urbanization demands healthy urban planning: an opportunity to revive the WHO healthy cities approach?

COP27 Fiddling as World Warms

At COP27 climate talks, slow progress stokes worry over final deal

African female farmers clamour to be heard at COP27

Climate Change is No ‘Future Scenario’ for Pacific Island Nations; Climate Change is ‘Real’

Rethinking Humanitarianism | Will countries hit by climate change finally get payouts at COP27?

Planet Health — climate crisis and the future of health care

Wild ambitions: countries meet in Panama to discuss future of planet’s species

Plastics on Track to Account for 20% of Oil and Gas Consumption by 2050

The Niger Delta’s Harsh Lessons: Fossil Fuels’ Harm to People and the Planet

Biggest rainforest nations form triple alliance to save jungle

Launch of EBRD Climate Adaptation Action Plan at COP27

Confronting the climate emergency with climate, trade and development policy in sync

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As of today, ...one in eight Americans is still food-insecure. One in six American children do not always know when their next meal will be or where that meal will come from. Recently, President Biden’s administration has also come up with a plan to end hunger in America by 2030. Much of that is exactly what hunger groups wanted to do nearly two decades ago...

By Sharman Apt Russell

 

Sharman Apt Russell has published some dozen books translated into nine languages. Her Diary of a Citizen Scientist won the 2016 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing and her Hunger: An Unnatural History (Basic Books, 2005) was written with the help of a Rockefeller Fellowship. Her Within Our Grasp: Childhood Malnutrition Worldwide and the Revolution Taking Place to End It (Pantheon Books, 2021) highlights the alignment of environmental and humanitarian goals.  Sharman lives in the magical realism of the American Southwest. She teaches in the MFA program of Antioch University in Los Angeles and is a professor emeritus at Western New Mexico University in Silver City. For more information, go to www.sharmanaptrussell.com

Déjà Vu: Within Our Grasp

 

In 2004, I was writing a book about the science of hunger, how our bodies respond to both voluntary fasting and involuntary malnutrition and starvation. I talked to a lot of people about this subject. The coalition National Anti-Hunger Organizations (NAHO) had just come up with a blueprint to end hunger in America, one of the world’s wealthiest countries, and as they were the first to admit—this wasn’t rocket science. “The solution to hunger in America is not a secret,” the NAHO said. “We have both the knowledge and the tools.”

Eighteen years later, one in eight Americans is still food-insecure. One in six American children do not always know when their next meal will be or where that meal will come from.

Recently, President Biden’s administration has also come up with a plan to end hunger in America by 2030. Much of that is exactly what hunger groups wanted to do nearly two decades ago.

The first step is to expand existing programs. Reach out to the people who are eligible for food assistance but do not receive it because the process of applying is so difficult and humiliating. Increase the benefits of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children). Extend healthy school meals into the summers and holidays. Provide more nutritious healthy food to food banks and food pantries. Focus on supporting vulnerable groups such as seniors, children, and immigrants.

The second step is to reduce poverty. Return the child tax credit used in the pandemic, which was shown to reduce child poverty by almost half. Raise the minimum wage. Lower health care costs. Help provide quality child care and safe, affordable housing.

It’s not rocket science.

At the same time, the 2022 plan does have some remarkable differences from what was proposed in 2004.

When I was writing about malnutrition then, statistics from the World Health Organization did not include the problem of overnutrition. Today, being overweight or obese is considered a form of malnutrition which can result in serious chronic disease. Some 42 percent of adults in America are obese. Almost 20 percent of children ages 2 to 19 are obese. What does this mean for their future? We don’t really know. America has never had so many obese children.

Obesity, of course, is also connected to poverty. When people do not know when their next meal will be, they may tend to overcompensate or develop unhealthy eating habits. When people live in food deserts, with access mainly to highly processed and inexpensive fast food, they may tend to gain weight. When city parks and green spaces are unsafe or far away, healthy daily exercise like walking and bicycling is hard to develop as a routine.

President Biden’s plan to end hunger is sensitive to the new realities of malnutrition and includes an emphasis on making nutritious food more available in poor communities and creating more opportunities for physical recreation.

The plan also welcomes the crucial role of business in America, with a long list of companies and organizations that have pledged real money—some eight billion dollars—in the effort to provide better access to better food. That list includes Albertsons, Door Dash, Instacart, Walgreens, Chobani, Tyson Foods, Google, Sysco, Warner Brothers, The Food Industry Association, The National Grocers Association, and National Restaurant Association. Their programs will range from nutrition labeling and nutrition counseling to financing healthier school breakfasts and lunches.

These efforts may be particularly important in a time when government in America becomes more partisan and paralyzed.

It’s not rocket science. We know what to do. And we have the resources.

I hope it doesn’t take another twenty years.

 

—————————————–

 

By the same Author recently on PEAH

The Strategy of Hope

 

 

 

 

 

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

White Seabream (Diplodus Sargus Sargus)

News Flash 500

Weekly Snapshot of Public Health Challenges

 

Online and in-person event: HEALTHCARE AND CLIMATE CHANGE: VICTIM OR PERPETRATOR? INTERNATIONAL GENEVA GLOBAL HEALTH PLATFORM 14 November 2022, 18:30 – 20:00 Auditorium Ivan Pictet, Maison de la Paix, Geneva Graduate Institute

Webinar registration: Financial Justice for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Tuesday, 15 November 2022 at Geneva Press Club

Webinar registration: Tackling and preventing medical deserts with the Medical Deserts Diagnostic Tool Monday November 21st, 2022

Online event: GLOBAL HEALTH CENTRE DIGITAL JUSTICE: HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS TRANSFORMING YOUNG PEOPLE’S HEALTH AND RIGHTS 22 November 2022, 14:00 – 15:30

COP27: World Bank, IRENA Pledge $1 Billion for Solar Electrification of Health Facilities, Food Storage and Agriculture

Developing Nations Clamour for New Deal on Debt and Climate Finance

Cop27: world on ‘highway to climate hell’, says UN chief

COP27 Climate Change Conference: urgent action needed for Africa and the world

COP27: EU launches Forest Partnerships with five partner countries

Why COP27 needs radical ideas and a shift of paradigm

COP27: What is ‘Loss and Damage’ compensation, and who should pay?

Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people

Europe rapidly losing its forest carbon sink, study shows

Cop27: ‘Water-related risks keep me up at night’:, says UN’s disaster risk reduction boss

UN unveils global ‘early warning’ system for disasters at $3 billion

Fossil Fuel Companies Are Continuing the Scramble for Africa & We Need to Talk About It

Brazil’s Lula vows to prioritise climate, science amid crisis

Debt-for-Nature Swaps Gain Traction Among Developing Countries

Oh FFS: A guide to climate change acronyms

WHO: Public Health round-up

COVID vaccine hoarding might have cost more than a million lives

WEMOS report: Make pooling work to end pandemics: A qualitative analysis of the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool

Keeping Track of COVID-19 Omicron Variants

Audio Interview: Masking and Covid-19

World-first vaccine campaign brings hope in fighting deadly hepatitis E

Uganda to close schools early after eight children die of Ebola

New MSF report warns that major opportunity to increase access to newer, safer DR-TB drugs is at risk

DR-TB Drugs Under the Microscope, 8th Edition

Progress on Tuberculosis Can Be Achieved in Africa

Success Stories: SUCCESS ARK by Tukashaba Felix

Focus on: UGANDA’s HEALTH ISSUES

Bulletin #37: No to austerity, yes to strong health systems People’s Health Dispatch Nov 5, 2022 

The Sustainable Livelihoods Handbook: An asset based approach to poverty

Book: Patient involvement in the development, regulation and safe use of medicines

Health systems and policy research needed to strengthen the rehabilitation workforce

Human Rights Reader 654: IF SANITY WERE NOT A RARE COMMODITY, WE WOULD NOT BE DROWNING IN AN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS NOW.

 

 

 

 

SUCCESS ARK is a registered Not-for-Profit Youth-Led organization operating in West Nile region in Uganda specifically in Arua City and Arua District. It was established in 2018, March. Its mission is to foster empowerment   through advocacy for human rights, health education and poverty alleviation for positive living.

PEAH is pleased to host here an illustrated summary by the Executive Director Tukashaba Felix on some SUCCESS ARK success stories in the fields of Education, ICT (Information and Communication Technology), Health and Environment projects

  By Tukashaba Felix

SUCCESS ARK Executive Director

successark2018@gmail.com

tu.felix3@gmail.com/

 Success Stories: SUCCESS ARK

 

ICT-Information Communication Technology and Education Project

ICT is one of the most vital tools used almost in everyday life for various purposes. The government encourages the use of ICT in learning centers by teachers to enable them smoothly handle academic stuffs. However, there has not been enough impact by the government to build capacity of the teachers both in primary and secondary schools.

SUCCESS ARK decided to take on the mantle to contribute to the integration of ICT into education system by initiating and implementing ICT project targeting 600 teachers from primary and secondary schools. It is aiming at increasing access to ICTs and equipping teachers with basic literacy skills. The project is ongoing with internal funding; however, external support is so much needed to successfully implement this project to full scale. The project has started with some teachers in a school called Arua Public Primary School.

ICT capacity building sessions at Arua Public Primary School and a group photo with some of the participating teachers in the ICT project

 

Health Project

We have had several interventions related with activities of Health in various communities. Our beneficiaries have appreciated the work done in health especially in the HIV, TB and Malaria and Sexual Reproductive Health interventions.

Over 1000 community members have benefited from our health projects including the currently ongoing Project funded by The AIDS Support Organization related with HIV. The project currently ongoing aims at improving the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS amongst the pregnant women and their sexual partners in Arua City.

This project has been so important that beneficiaries even requested the organization tackle the TB, and Malaria aspects. People are coming in large numbers for screening and testing for HIV, TB and Malaria.

This project is evidenced from the following photos and captions

HIV screening and testing, TB and Malaria were being carried out in these pictures and medication was given or is given to those who are diagnosed and are found positive of any disease diagnosed. IEC (Information, Education and Communication) materials, condoms, and HIV self-Test kits were (are) given. Sensitization, guidance and counseling sessions are being given

 

Environment Projects

West Nile was one of the greatest forested lands in 2000, so far it is one the most deteriorating land when it comes to vegetation cover, it is so vital that communities engage in planting of tree and conserving what is available. SUCCESS ARK has had great in implementing environmental conservation and protection activities in learning centers and local communities. Over 50,000 trees have been planted with support from  DanChurch Aid, National Forestry Authority, and UNHCR nursery beds. These seedlings have been distributed amongst the beneficiaries for planting for future benefits such as fruits, wind breaks, and formation of rainfall. The project aims at improving the green vegetation and conserving the ecosystem in West Nile.

The following pictures show evidence of what SUCCESS ARK does in the area of environment

Community beneficiaries receiving tree seedlings, sorting of tree seedlings, and planting of tree seedlings in communities and learning centers

 

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

female Parrotfish (Sparisoma Cretense)

News Flash 499

Weekly Snapshot of Public Health Challenges

 

Webinar registration: Financial Justice for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Tuesday, 15 November 2022 at Geneva Press Club 

Webinar registration: WHA 75 resolutions on Communicable Disease- a Review Nov 4, 2022 06:30 PM in India 

A New One Health Global Action Plan is Out!

Ethics and governance challenges related to genomic data sharing in southern Africa: the case of SARS-CoV-2

Omicron Subvariants Race for Dominance

Mapping our unvaccinated world

The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative’s Challenges And Successes

The 5 dimensions for an equitable and effective response to pandemics

How to Combat Future Pandemics by Brian Johnston

Invasive mosquitoes could unravel malaria progress in Africa

Belarus: A revolution in TB treatment leads to safer and more effective practice

Anti-Microbial Resistance Strategies Need Urgent Attention to Prevent Unnecessary Deaths in Africa

THE GLOBAL STATE OF HARM REDUCTION 2022

Cough Medicine Deaths Highlight India’s Problem With Sub-standard Medicine

WHO: Medical Product Alert N°7/2022: Substandard (contaminated) paediatric liquid dosage medicines identified in WHO region of South-East Asia

Big Pharma Says Drug Prices Reflect R&D Cost. Researchers Call BS

MPP signs licence agreement to increase access to nilotinib for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia This is the first ever public health-oriented voluntary licence agreement on a cancer medicine

Health experts challenge inequitable distribution of new medicines across EU

INEQUALITY.ORG

Leading While Locked Out, an African Woman’s Perspectives

When Will India End Violence Against Health Workers?

END THE CAGE AGE: LE VIDEO-INCHIESTE per mettere fine all’allevamento in gabbia

The Social Medicine Portal

Our Research is Completed: is There an Ethical Way to Disseminate its Findings? by Raffaella Ravinetto

How deep-seated sexism is making food insecurity worse in Nigeria

Africa Faces 1.1 Million Deaths Annually from Air Pollution – Second Largest Risk After Malnutrition

‘Radical collaboration’ needed for climate adaptation

Climate change and security crises ‘a toxic threat to peace’: former EU environment commissioner

Europe warmed twice as much as global average in last three decades: report

Phase Out Fossil Fuel, Urges Tedros on Eve of COP27

Why COP27 Must Put Climate Adaptation at the Top of Its Agenda

Four Climate Finance Discussions to Watch at COP27

Climate change and the future: facts and figures

Climate, Pollution, and Children’s Health

 

 

 

 

 

…If we are to improve our resilience to new and emerging threats, whether from pandemics or elsewhere, we need innovative ways of effectively navigating a sea of scientific knowledge, that is continuously growing. This will require not only time and effort, but also a change in mindset, towards a flexible and adaptive way of engaging with the data. Important messages need to be separated from the roar of background noise and communicated effectively in a clear and concise way to stakeholders and decision makers…

By Dr. Brian Johnston

Senior Public Health Intelligence Manager

London, United Kingdom

How to Combat Future Pandemics

 

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has recently been set up to examine the national response to the pandemic, its impact and possible lessons for the future. Whilst this inquiry should be welcomed as a way of finding shortcomings in logistics and decision making, its findings and recommendations are likely to be out of date when they are eventually published. By its very nature, the enquiry will be retrospective and relate to our past relationship with COVID-19. Indeed, from the moment of its inception, the inquiry has inevitably been tied to an historic account of our interaction with the virus. Both the virus and our ways of dealing with it have moved on.

On first sight, this may seem a negative way of looking at inquiries, but the UK has a long history of conducting high profile, costly inquiries into other important issues (such as child abuse), which have proven less than fruitful. Often these inquiries make many recommendations, which are then not effectively implemented on the ground, leading inevitably to a similar tragedy to the one that sparked the initial enquiry in the first place. The media then ask why the recommendations from the previous enquiry were not followed and a new enquiry is called, to see how we can do it better next time…and so the carousel revolves.

To avoid this endless cycle, perhaps we could use the recommendations from the UK Covid-19 inquiry in a different way this time; by employing them as a framework for an annual audit into national preparedness for a future pandemic. The recommendations could be reformulated and reworded into quantifiable indicators (metrics) and the audit process made a mandatory report, which all local authorities have a legal obligation to complete by a specified deadline each year. In this way, potential weaknesses in our responsiveness to a pandemic could be effectively identified and monitored, on an ongoing basis. Complacency is our enemy when it comes to dealing with COVID-19 and similar pathogens, but the adoption of such an audit mechanism could prove a cost effective and practical way to refresh our preparedness for a future pandemic.

Of course, this audit mechanism should be flexible and not rigidly tied to an annual response format, if news emerges of a new threat. In such circumstances, the audit process could be quickly swung into operation and the local logistical “armour” quickly repaired and strengthened, in preparation for the oncoming pandemic. In some cases, where the onset of the pandemic is rapid, this recharging of the local logistical response would be made in the very early stages of the emergency. In other scenarios, where there is greater warning, the refresh of systems and processes could be carried out before the threat has even gained a foothold.

At a local level, the formation of multidisciplinary teams at the height of the recent COVID pandemic, clearly demonstrated what could be achieved when people from different professional backgrounds worked together to find quick and practical solutions to difficult logistical questions. This lesson should not be lost or forgotten, and where possible the networks formed at that time should be maintained and strengthened. Adequate funding, to help keep these structures in place, whilst maintaining their readiness for a future emergency, would be money well spent.

For future pandemics, the ability of health and care professionals to form mutually supportive and co-operative networks of responders to facilitate logistics, will be of great importance, especially in the early stages of a major outbreak. By having a dedicated person within each local Public Health department tasked with maintaining and growing such networks, the activation of a wide range of professionals across a variety of disciplines could be achieved very quickly and efficiently at a time of crisis. Virtual hubs of mutually supportive professionals could be created, and their contact details, skill sets, and areas of expertise held on shared directories to facilitate a rapid, flexible and co-ordinated response to all emergencies (not just pandemics).

Similarly, the creation of a specialist role within Public Health teams to horizon scan for new developments in science and technology, would be another worthy investment. More generally, there is currently considerable interest within health professionals in artificial intelligence (AI) and how this can be used to improve the treatment of patients, for example in breast cancer screening. This shared interest has already led to the development of platforms and forums for networking and the sharing of information. However, the sheer volume and diversity of the information generated by these initiatives can make it difficult for health professionals to keep up to date with important developments, not only in AI, but in science and technology in general.

By having a dedicated member within Public Health teams, whose primary focus would be to tap into these forums and liaise with them, would be a major benefit. Specifically, this individual would be tasked with the identification of practical and important intelligence and its presentation in user friendly digests to senior decision makers at a local level. This “research specialist” could also actively search the relevant scientific literature for new developments, discoveries and inventions, that could be applied locally. More importantly, these research specialists could inform the targeted commissioning of services and the creation of new and innovative strategies, which could make tangible and significant reductions in health inequalities.

If we are to improve our resilience to new and emerging threats, whether from pandemics or elsewhere, we need innovative ways of effectively navigating a sea of scientific knowledge, that is continuously growing. This will require not only time and effort, but also a change in mindset, towards a flexible and adaptive way of engaging with the data. Important messages need to be separated from the roar of background noise and communicated effectively in a clear and concise way to stakeholders and decision makers.

Any idea that is shared and acted upon has the potential to create a solution, that can then seed further ideas, and so on. However, in a world where health challenges come in many forms and sometimes with very short notice, we need quick and practical solutions to be accessible to a targeted audience and in a timely fashion. Only then can we hope to effectively combat future pandemics and health emergencies, without needless loss of life.

We must effectively catalyse data, science and technology to energise the logistical structures necessary to minimise the impact of future pandemics. Hopefully, rather than dodging these icebergs, we can have viable structures in place, to first slow them down, and then melt them, through the judicious application of science and technology. Similarly, by focussing a concentrated beam of relevant knowledge on any future pandemic, we will not only cut it down to size, but save lives through the timely and efficient use of people and resources.

 

By the same Author on PEAH

The New Abnormal

Living with COVID in a Transformed World

Death in the Time of COVID

Unleashing the True Potential of Data – COVID-19 and Beyond

Full of suggestions, this article turns the spotlight on what should be strictly pursued to timely, clearly and transparently disseminate all findings of health and medical research to the people who can make use of them. To this aim, it maintains that all research stakeholders should integrate ethics and integrity principles in their institutional dissemination policies and personal belief systems 

By Raffaella Ravinetto

Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium (Twitter: @RRavinetto) 

Our Research is Completed: is There an Ethical Way to Disseminate its Findings?

 

All findings of health and medical research, whether positive, inconclusive or negative, should be timely, clearly and transparently disseminated to the people who can make use of them[1],[2]. This, in order to inform policies and practices, and to maximize the social value and benefit of the research without delay”[3]. In a paper recently published in the BMJ Evidence Based Medicines[4], Jerome A Singh and myself reflected on the ethics challenges faced not only by researchers, but also by other concerned stakeholders, when it comes to disseminating research findings. In particular, we looked at the challenges and opportunities of peer-review publications, abstracts, pre-prints, press-releases, and media and social media coverage. Dissemination of research findings to the research participants and communities is at least equally important, but it requires different modalities and contextualized approaches.

Herein, I present an overview of our reflection and call from the publication in the BMJ Evidence Based Medicine, which is available open access at Responsible dissemination of health and medical research: some guidance points | BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

The main modalities of dissemination

Publishing in peer-reviewed journals remains the benchmark dissemination modality. However, it is not exempt from shortcomings and weaknesses[5], particularly if there is lack of qualified reviewers, and/or if researchers are subject to a ‘publish or perish’ institutional culture. Furthermore, independent researchers or those in resource-constrained settings may be unable to publish their research due prohibitively high publication fees[6]. Before peer-review publication, scientific conferences provide adequate platforms for sharing research results with peers. However, the limited information contained in a conference abstract will not allow reviewers to identify all potential scientific and/or ethical shortcomings of the concerned work.  Preprints, i.e. preliminary reports of work not yet peer-reviewed, are more and more frequently uploaded in dedicated free-access servers, such as https://www.medrxiv.org/[7]. They allow for rapid, open-access dissemination, accompanied by informal peer-appraisal; but rushed readers may miss the cautioning  that they are not peer-reviewed, thus not suitable yet to inform policy or medical guidelines.

The scientific community, health system policy-makers, and regulators are the primary target of  peer-reviewed manuscripts, abstracts, and pre-prints. Conversely, corporate press-releases for early dissemination of (in particular) clinical trial findings, primarily aim at influencing the market. They are drafted by marketing experts, and are often preceded by stock repurchasing, i.e. companies buy back part of their own stock held by executives, thus increasing demand for the stock and enhancing earnings per share.^[8]

Last, irrespective of the initial dissemination modality, upstream information is cascaded to mainstream and social media, helping to spread valuable knowledge, but also risking to catalyze misunderstanding or overemphasis on marginal, unsignificant or inaccurate findings.

A call for good dissemination practices

In our paper in the BMJ Evidence Based Medicine, we drafted some recommendations for good dissemination practices. They are aimed at researchers, research institutions, developers, medical journals editors, media, journalists, social media actors, medical opinion leaders, policy makers, regulators, and the scientific community. For instance, researchers, research institutions and developers (including pharmaceutical companies) should publish all results, including those that are negative or inconclusive, and they should do it in open access journals when possible. They should also ensure that conference abstracts, pre-prints and press-releases are (rapidly) followed by a peer review publication – and if this does not happen, be transparent on why this does not happen. Research institution should avoid fostering an explicit or implicit ‘publish or perish’ culture. Medical journals should adopt fair prices for open access publication; rigorously ensure compliance with the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), beyond a formal “checklist approach”; and comply with the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). As we advocated for elsewhere, the scientific community as a whole should agree on “good pre-print practices”, and on a less ambiguous terminology, e.g. not peer reviewed”[9]. There is also a key-responsibility of journalists and key-opinion leaders to critically appraise any dissemination modality (and press-releases in particular) for ethics, science and possible bias, and to communicate accordingly, whether in mainstream media or in personal social media feeds.

In summary, in order to ensure timely, comprehensive, accurate, unbiased, unambiguous, and transparent dissemination, all research stakeholders should integrate ethics and integrity principles in their institutional dissemination policies and personal belief systems.

 

REFERENCES

[1] World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA. 2013; 310: 2191–94.

[2] Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS). International ethical guidelines for health-related research involving humans. 4th ed. Geneva: Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS); 2016 Nov. Accessed on 21/04/2022 at: https://cioms.ch/shop/product/international-ethical-guidelines-for-health-related-research-involving-humans/

[3] National Institute for Health Care and Research. “How to disseminate your research”. Version 1.0, January 2019. Accessed on 21/4/2022 at https://www.nihr.ac.uk/documents/how-to-disseminate-your-research/19951

[4] Ravinetto R, Singh JA. Responsible dissemination of health and medical research: some guidance points. BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine Epub ahead of print 2.9.2022; doi:10.1136/bmjebm-2022-111967

[5] Smith MJ, Upshur REG, Emanuel EJ. Publication ethics during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Public Health. 2020; 110:947–8.

[6] Ellingson MK, Shi X, Skydel JJ, et al. Publishing at any cost: a cross-sectional study of the amount that medical researchers spend on open access publishing each year. BMJ Open 2021; 11: e047107. 7

[7] Massey DA, Opare MA, Wallach JD, Ross JS and Krumholz HM. Assessment of Preprint Policies of Top-Ranked Clinical Journals. JAMA Network Open. 2020;3(7): e2011127

[8] Sorkin AR, Karaian J, Gandel S, de la Merced MJ, Hirsch L, and Livni E. Biden Renews Pushback Against Stock Buybacks. 28 March 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/business/dealbook/biden-stock-buybacks.html.

[9] Ravinetto, R., Caillet, C., Zaman, M.H. et al. Preprints in times of COVID19: the time is ripe for agreeing on terminology and good practices. BMC Med Ethics 2021;  22 (106).

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

Conger eel (Conger Conger)

News Flash 498

Weekly Snapshot of Public Health Challenges

 

UNCHR: Social Forum on Water and Human Rights, Geneva 3-4 November 2022

Webinar registration: WHA 75 resolutions on Communicable Disease- a Review Nov 4, 2022 06:30 PM in India

Meeting registration: Healthcare in war-torn Tigray: targeted or collaterally attacked? Nov 2, 2022 01:00 PM in Rome

Meeting registration: Debt as Health “Aid”? Decolonization in global health: an exploration by the Kampala Initiative and allies Nov 2, 2022 01:30 PM in Nairobi

TDR October 2022 eNewsletter

Gastein and EU Health Union: A tale of “Moonshots” and public health Cinderellas?

Networking & Hobnobbing 101: The Road to Bogota, 7th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

Hospitals in Haiti Facing Shutdown as Cholera Threat Escalates

Cholera thrives in a warming world

Tuberculosis deaths rose during pandemic, reversing years of decline, WHO says

MSF responds to WHO Global TB Report 2022, calls for scale up of shorter and safer DR-TB treatments to help save more lives

Untangling antimicrobial resistance: the legacy of an unhealthy development model

Monkeypox

Private-Public Drug Deal Enables Generic Production of Expensive Cancer Medicine

It’s high time for balanced collaborative action on access to medicines – The Oslo Medicines Initiative

How the Pandemic Accord can ensure equitable access to medical products

Towards sustainable access to healthcare: patient-centred, needs-driven, and evidence-based

The Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2018: A global ranking of governments based on what they are doing to tackle the gap between rich and poor

Does the right to a healthy environment need a treaty?

Advancing Health Equity And Integrated Care For Rural Dual Eligibles

Libya: torture and killings of civilians by law enforcement ‘endemic’

World still far from mine-free, 25 years since landmark treaty

Tigray’s civilian toll, Rohingya security fears, and cholera vaccine cuts: The Cheat Sheet

Shocking farm footage shows piglets with tails cut off and mothers crammed into tiny cages

‘Take a deep breath on indoor air quality’ at the European Health Forum Gastein

Global deforestation pledge will be missed without urgent action, say researchers

Global South farmers desperate for COP27 adaptation action

COP27: Climate change threatening global health – report

EU to back climate compensation talks at U.N. summit – document

EU Seeking Deals on Three Climate Laws in Time for UN Summit

European Green Deal: Commission proposes rules for cleaner air and water

Developing Countries Battle Climate Change, While the Wealthy Make Frozen Pledges: Will COP27 Usher a New Era?

Climate pledges have only inched forward since last year’s summit, UN finds

We can’t beat climate change without listening to women

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News Flash Links, as part of the research project PEAH (Policies for Equitable Access to Health), aim to focus on the latest challenges by trade and governments rules to equitable access to health in resource-limited settings

Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus Volitans)

News Flash 497

Weekly Snapshot of Public Health Challenges

 

WHO Call for Submissions: Fifth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health parallel sessions. Deadline for submission: 15 November 2022

Meeting registration: G2H2 research 2022 (financing): Restitution session for members Oct 28, 2022 01:00 PM in Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna

Webinar registration: Healthcare in war-torn Tigray: targeted or collaterally attacked? Nov 2, 2022 12:00 PM in Universal Time UTC

Call For Applications: International People’s Health University (IPHU) Course of PHM: Last date to apply: 25 October, 2022

Research, Interrupted: How Covid-19 Slowed Basic Research

World Health Summit Ends on Uneven Note

World’s Pandemic Response: Tall on Principles But Short on Plans

Parliamentarians Unite Forces Globally to Advance Pandemic Treaty

EMA recommends approval of Comirnaty and Spikevax COVID-19 vaccines for children from 6 months of age

EMA recommends approval of second adapted Spikevax vaccine

Audio Interview: Covid-19: Where Are We Heading?

Global leaders commit US$ 2.6 billion at World Health Summit to end polio

Shortage of cholera vaccines leads to temporary suspension of two-dose strategy, as cases rise worldwide

Health worker shortage in Uganda fueled spread of Ebola, says WHO

Vaccines to treat cancer possible by 2030, say BioNTech founders

The war in Ukraine is fueling antimicrobial resistance

Roundtable: How Can Disclosing Clinical Trial Costs Increase Access to Medical Products?

Stigma’s Toll on Sexual and Reproductive Health

World Cancer Congress: lack of early screening is driving deaths in poorer countries, NGO boss warns

How many? A new analysis finds 1.3 million American adults rationed insulin due to cost

EXTRACTIVISM: THE QUIET RUINER OF HUMAN HEALTH, SETTLEMENT & BIODIVERSITIES IN UGANDA by Michael Ssemakula

Digitalisation has the power to revolutionise human rights tracking for the best

HRR 651 HOW MUCH POVERTY CAN DEMOCRACIES TAKE AND HOW MUCH UNDERDEVELOPMENT CAN WORLD PEACE TAKE?

Do Cash Transfers Deter Migration?

Time is Running Out for Decisions on Debt Relief as Countries Face Escalating Development Crisis

How the Global Debt Crisis Could Make the Hunger Crisis Worse

EQUITY IN GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH: HIGH TIME FOR FUNDING AGENCIES TO WALK THE TALK by Luchuo Engelbert Bain

Commission to propose EU-wide phaseout of male chick killing

In COP27 host Egypt, hunger mounts amid soaring import costs and weather extremes

What Climate Change Means For Africa’s Food Crisis

UK Parliament report warns climate change likely to worsen atrocities

Are Climate Summits a Waste of Time?

Heal the world to make it a better place: A step closer to healthy urbanism in Egypt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...the voice of funders with clear commitments on how they intend, and should ensure, that there is equity in global health research remains disturbingly absent. If any concrete progress is envisaged in ensuring equity in global health research, then the funders must walk the talk... 

...funders should come up with clear guidelines and indicators to ensure that equity is engrained throughout the research cycle with the research they fund...

 By Luchuo Engelbert Bain, MD, PhD^1,2,3

1. International Development Research Centre, IDRC, Ottawa, Canada.
2. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
3. Pan African Medical Journal, PAMJ.

Email: lengelbert-bain@idrc.ca

lebaiins@gmail.com

EQUITY IN GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH: HIGH TIME FOR FUNDING AGENCIES TO WALK THE TALK

 

Healthy partnerships in the global health research agenda stand to greatly accelerate the decolonization of decolonizing global health. Indeed, the much-awaited Cape Town Statement of the just ended 7^th World Conference on Research Integrity (29 May-1 June 2022, Cape Town, South Africa) will put extra momentum in ending “helicopter research”. Some major players in the global health publication space (The Lancet, Nature, The BMJ, Anesthesia) have taken a clear commitment to ensure equity when it comes to authorship. As we speak, the voice of funders with clear commitments on how they intend, and should ensure, that there is equity in global health research remains disturbingly absent. If any concrete progress is envisaged in ensuring equity in global health research, then the funders must walk the talk.

As a starting point in this reflection, funders should come up with clear guidelines and indicators to ensure that equity is engrained throughout the research cycle with the research they fund. Clear equity indicators in the terms of engagement, that should/must be respected by grantees, as well as reporting framework are highly needed. Conscious inclusion of capacity building plans of grantees is required. Only through an extra and conscious effort in building the capacities of researchers can ending helicopter research be envisaged. Empirical research to identify the needs of actors, as well as co- defined meaning of equity for stakeholders to have a common meaning of the concept at the outset.

Coming up with a clear transparency mechanism (e.g through guidance documents on the websites) is highly needed to ensure that funder is actually walking the talk in ensuring equity in global health research.