Global Health Unfiltered Blog
One Health Starts in Our Communities: Why Veterinary Clinics Matter More Than We Think
We don’t need to wait for September 28 — World Rabies Day — to prove our commitment to ending rabies.
Each bite avoided, each dog vaccinated, and each child educated is a quiet victory for One Health.
Invisible Barriers: Informal Costs, Staffing, and Quality in Maternal Care
On paper, maternity services in many hospitals are free. Yet women often discover that “free” care comes with small, unofficial expenses: payments for gloves, contributions toward generator fuel during emergencies, or small tokens to ensure timely attention from overstretched staff. For families with limited means, these costs can delay care or create barriers to accessing services.
Africa’s Future Healers Must Not Just Survive; They Must Blossom!
When the curtains drew on the Blossom Conference 2025, one could sense that something transformative had occurred. The auditorium was filled not only with anticipation but equally with a renewed sense of vision and vitality among Ghana’s next generation of healthcare professionals.
Hypertension is Ghana's Silent Killer and We Must Face It Head On
Faith is profoundly woven into the Ghanaian identity, offering comfort and strength. But in the case of hypertension, faith and medicine must learn to collaborate, not collide.
When Guidelines Don’t Fit: The Hidden Cost of Copy-Paste Medicine in Low-Resource Hospitals
When protocols designed for well-resourced environments are copied into wards that lack staff, equipment, or essential drugs, the result is not safety but paralysis. On paper, everything looks compliant, but on the ground, the system bends under unrealistic expectations.
Why America’s New Global Health Strategy Should Inspire the World
The America First strategy is both a warning and an opportunity. It promises accountability, efficiency, and data-driven progress but it also risks deepening the gap between what gets measured and what truly matters for people’s lives. For countries like mine, the path forward is clear: ramp up domestic financing, strengthen local pharmaceutical manufacturing, and invest in engaging health education implementation so fewer people need treatment in the first place.
Betty’s Story and the Need for Emergency Surgical Care in Ghana
Betty’s story serves as a poignant reminder of the urgent need for comprehensive and accessible emergency surgical care in Ghana. Through this op-ed I want to make sure that no promising lives are lost due to our inadequate emergency system.
Nigeria Launches Africa's Largest Vaccination Campaign
Historic Initiative Aims to Protect 106 Million Children Against Deadly Diseases
If Access to Health Care Is a Human Right, Why Isn’t Breast Reconstruction?
So what message do we send when mastectomy is covered but reconstruction is not? That survival matters, but dignity does not? That women are human enough to live, but not human enough to heal fully?
If access to care is a right, then access to complete care is the standard. Let’s meet it.
What Use Is Survival If We Abandon Patients to a Lifetime of Disability?
As a medical student in Ghana, I have seen children rushed in with severe burns, their families traveling hours from rural areas only to be told there is no bed in the specialized burn unit.
Even when a patient finds a bed, the reality can be grim. Overcrowded wards, limited sterile supplies, and inadequate hygiene practices sometimes cause more harm than good
From the Philippines to Australia: Lessons from a Global Health Fellowship in a HIC-LMIC Partnership
Global health partnerships are crucial. They streamline efforts in the health sector, achieving improvements no single organization could manage alone. Such collaborations significantly contribute to developing research capacity and enhancing the production and use of evidence to advance global health equity.
Charting a New Course: Korle-Bu, Florida, and the Future of Thoracic Surgery in Ghana
As a respiratory therapist with a strong inclination towards cardiopulmonary medicine, I have always been drawn to the complexities of cardiothoracic surgery. However, my journey, like the history of cardiothoracic surgery in Ghana, has not been without its share of doubts and doubters.
Ethiopia Didn't Meet its Trachoma Goal by 2020. Now What?
For those living in southern rural regions of Ethiopia, experiencing excruciating eye pain, resorting to plucking out eyelashes as a means of temporary relief, traveling for kilometers often on foot, and even being sent home with nothing but eyedrops is not the exception of what treatment for trachoma looks like but the norm.
Whose Voice Do I Speak? Walking the Tightrope of Positionality and Gaze in Global Health
It is epistemic injustice when experiences and realities of global south research actors are invisible in mainstream discourses in global health; when the latter have to adopt a language and a persona to fit into the discourse which is in complete denial of their internal realities and experiences.
The Silent Pandemic: Why Non-Communicable Diseases Deserve Global Attention
What if the biggest global health threat wasn’t a virus, but our own lifestyle choices? Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are responsible for most deaths worldwide, yet they don’t spark the same urgency as infectious outbreaks. As these diseases surge especially in low- and middle-income countries, can we afford to keep ignoring this silent pandemic?
Antiretrovirals as Post-Exposure Prophylaxis: A Lifeline or a Crutch?
The Human Cost of Inequality in the Provision of Neuro-oncological care
Medicine Plus: A Path to 10x Innovation in African Healthcare
“While medicine is to be your vocation, or calling, see to it that you also have an avocation… some intellectual pastime which may serve to keep you in touch with the world of art, of science, or of letters.” These words by Sir William Osler in 1899 resonate profoundly today, especially in the context of African healthcare. The challenges faced by our healthcare systems are enormous, and innovative solutions are desperately needed. One way to foster such innovation is by encouraging medical students to pursue concurrent education in non-medical fields. This interdisciplinary approach can equip future physicians with diverse skills and perspectives, enabling them to propose and implement ideas that improve care for everyone.
Rising to the Challenge: Ghana’s Healthcare System
The stark reality of Ghana’s healthcare system was brought into sharp focus during a recent encounter. On the 1st of November, I ordered a ride home from the Korlebu Teaching Hospital. Just three minutes into the ride, the air was pierced by the desperate screams of women from the community in front of the hospital. I witnessed a woman, likely a mother, frantically carrying an unconscious young boy, about seven years old, covered in blood.
Navigating Health and Climate Inequities in India: Bridging the Divide
Paradoxically, India’s drive for modernization—factories, vehicles, and construction—fuels the very pollutants poisoning its air. The burden of this pollution disproportionately affects poorer communities near industrial zones, while wealthier neighborhoods enjoy cleaner air and better healthcare access.