by Margaret E. Kruk, Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
“Fear of Ebola breeds a terror of physicians” proclaimed an article in the New York Times recently, observing that sick people in rural areas were more comfortable with seeking help from traditional healers than health system workers…
by Saugato Datta, Vice President, ideas42
Behavioural economics studies human behaviour in all its messy complexity. Its practitioners pay attention to all manner of things that standard neoclassical economics ignores (or waves away as unimportant: the context in which decisions are made, visual, aural or social cues, salience, social or…
Valéry Ridde et Emilie Robert
«Je pense que la Banque était idéologique». Dans un entretien au Guardian début avril 2014 [i], le président de la Banque Mondiale surprit tout le monde en affirmant que son institution avait promu pendant des années le paiement direct au…
By Valéry Ridde and Emilie Robert, University of Montreal
“I think the bank was ideological”, in an interview with The Guardian last month the President of the World Bank surprised everyone by acknowledging that his institution had for years promoted user fees on the basis of an ideology.
Remember…
By Lydia Kapiriri, Associate Professor, Department of Health, Aging and Society, McMaster University
Have you ever wondered why patient X goes to a hospital and gets all the treatment they need, yet, patient Y goes to the same hospital and somehow fails to get the treatment they need? I will…
By Joan Kalyango
Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children under five years old worldwide, despite being preventable and treatable, mostly due to poor access to care. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) contributes more than half of the total deaths due to pneumonia. Community case management of pneumonia (CCMp…
By Prashant Yadav
The risk of a flu pandemic is amongst the top global risks today. Scientists and public health experts seem to agree that it is a question of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ it happens. It has been nearly 100 years since the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, which…
By Warren Kaplan
The increase in global spending on medicines has been dramatic, with an approximate per capita increase of 50% between 1995 and 2006. In a recently published paper, Nguyen et al. reviewed the literature on pharmaceutical pricing and purchasing policies. They found that no one option is preferred…
By Kabir Sheikh
A contract health worker is posted in a remote health post, 700 km away from where his spouse and children live. He sees them once a year, using up most of his annual leave of 18 days, in travel. He has been applying unsuccessfully to be posted…
By Shelley Lees
HIV is the leading cause of death amongst women of reproductive age worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV epidemic is disproportionally affecting women – they make up 60% of those living with HIV in the region. These inequalities are driven by gender norms related to masculinity and…
