In this episode we hear from practitioners and academics about their views on decolonising global health; what does decolonisation mean for them? What progress has been made? What would decolonised global health look like? Would it still exist? And most importantly, what can we all do next? Our distinguished panel features Yadurshini Raveendran, David McCoy, Viviana Olivetto, Sarah Brittingham, Doreen Tuhebwe and Michelle Amri, each bringing unique perspectives and expertise to this critical discourse. We also have water governance expert Euphresia Luseka to open and close the episode. Tune in as we envision a decolonised future for global health.
Yadurshini Raveendran
Yadurshini Raveendran is originally from Colombo, Sri Lanka and is a graduate of the Master of Science in Global Health program at Duke University. She co-founded the Duke Decolonizing Global Health Working Group in 2018 with aspirations of drawing awareness to the colonial histories of the field of global health and creating a safe space to engage in this broad conversation. Yadurshini has global health experience from working in the field in India, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania, and her research interests are primarily embedded in addressing health disparities in resource-constrained settings, with interests in cancer disparities, paediatric oncology, global nutrition, and implementation science. Currently, she is Program Leader for the Community Outreach, Engagement, and Equity program at the Duke Cancer Institute.
Viviana Olivetto
Viviana Olivetto is the Senior Health Adviser to the International Directorate at British Red Cross (BRC). She is based in London, UK, with regular travel to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Viviana has worked in the humanitarian and policy sector for the past 20 years, first covering emergency operations and forced displacement, mainly in Africa, and specialising in protracted conflict whilst working for the UN in Sudan and South Sudan (2007 – 2011). She then spent the second half of her career in health policy, with the UK NHS, and global public health, with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. She is a member of the International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent (IFRC) Reference Group on Global Health. Viviana has a MA in Humanitarian Actions Management from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Besides work, Viviana is interested in foreign languages, neuroscience, and enjoys being a mum.
David McCoy
David McCoy is a public health specialist and professor of global public health who works in the fields of health systems policy and development; global health governance and international health policy; and the political and economic determinants of health. Much of his recent research has consisted of multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral case studies. David’s most recent article is:
Decolonising global health research: Shifting power for transformative change. PLOS Global Public Health, 4(4), e0003141
https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0003141
David also launched the Miami Institute’s forum on “What does it mean to decolonize global public health?” with an essay on An Anti-Colonial Agenda for the Decolonisation of Global Health. The essay and responses can be found here:
https://www.miamisocialsciences.org/home/tag/What+does+it+mean+to+decolonize+global+public+health
Sarah Brittingham
Sarah Brittingham, MA, MPH is Technical Advisor at FHI 360, an international NGO based in Durham, North Carolina in the United States. She sits in the research utilization unit, which is focused on translating research to practice and working with stakeholders to ensure that FHI 360’s work is as pertinent and useful as possible to those who are seeking to make change in the world.
Sarah’s portfolio centres around expanding access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health information and services through digital technologies and the decolonization of global health and development. She has field experience across sixteen countries and four continents and her career spans management of global health programs, non-profit leadership, and working directly alongside individuals and communities.
Doreen Tuhebwe
Doreen Tuhebwe is a research fellow with Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda under the Department of Health Policy Planning and Management.
Currently, Doreen is a PhD student pursing a Doctorate in Public Health-Global Health under the joint doctor program in public health between San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego. Doreen has been collaborating with several partners, including FHI 360. She has always had discussions around equity and inclusion as part of public health and health systems research, but then started moving into the space of decolonization with FHI 360. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Health Sciences and a Master of Public Health from Makerere University. In 2015 Doreen was a co-investigator of the USAID Fighting Ebola Grand Challenge “Designing an isolation Unit for Infectious Pathogens”. Doreen is a founder member of Women in Global Health- Uganda Chapter and the Makerere University-Master of Public Health Alumni Association.
Doreen’s recent publications include:
- Applying a Power Analysis to Everything We Do: A Qualitative Inquiry to Decolonize the Global Health and Development Project Cycle
https://www.ghspjournal.org/content/11/5/e2300187?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Global_Health%253A_Science_and_Practice_TrendMD_0 - To address racism, embed accountability across the research cycle
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36536219/ - Ethics of health research priority setting
https://www.gfbr.global/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Suzanne-Kiwanuka_GFBR-2023_Theme-1.pdf - Knowledge, perceptions and uptake of human papilloma virus vaccine among adolescent girls in Kampala, Uganda; a mixed-methods school-based study
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12887-023-04174-z - The extent to which the design of available reproductive health interventions fit the reproductive health needs of adolescents living in urban poor settings of Kisenyi, Kampala, Uganda.
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-10933-3
Michelle Amri
Dr. Michelle Amri is an Assistant Professor of Global Health Ethics and the Mary and Maurice Young Professor in Applied Ethics at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Prior to joining UBC she was an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University and a Takemi Fellow in the Takemi Program in International Health at Harvard University. She has served in various roles in government and the World Health Organization (WHO) and continues to consult for the WHO. She sits on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association for Global Health and led the scientific agenda for the Canadian Conference on Global Health as a conference co-chair last year and continues to co-lead this year’s conference. She has been named to the Canadian Women in Global Health list.
Dr. Amri’s program of research is situated in global health and uses an applied ethics lens to focus on the normative nature of health equity. Her work seeks to understand how equity can be better incorporated in public policymaking, both in terms of how relevant actors consider equity in developing policy (e.g., how equity is understood and operationalized) and how equity can be improved in policymaking processes (e.g., multisectoral approaches including those at the city-level, decolonizing policymaking).
Her most recent publications are:
- Decolonizing global health: A scoping review protocol. World Medical & Health Policy, 16(1), 70-77
- Health promotion, the social determinants of health, and urban health: what does a critical discourse analysis of World Health Organization texts reveal about health equity? BMC Global and Public Health 1 (1), 25
Euphresia Luseka
Euphresia is an Award winning seasoned Water Governance and Systems Strengthening Expert, Social Entrepreneur, BOD Member, Programs Manager and Coordinator with over a decade of progressive multi-country and multi-donor experience in leadership, strategy development and management in the WASH sector in 25 countries and 34 counties in Kenya. At a period of confronting decreasing aid in the WASH sector she has specialised in WASH Public Policy, Business Development Support Strategies, Resource Mobilization and Institutional Strengthening of WASH Institutions at national and sub-national level including state corporations and Water Utilities in both Urban and Rural areas towards enhancing their overall credit worthiness and service delivery. She has also written various publications, participated in various research activities, discussion panels and is a brilliant trainer and facilitator.