Decolonizing Global Health a Must, says Pandemic Panel

On March 8, during the CUGH 2024 conference, the AHF Global Public Health Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health convened a panel titled "Decolonizing Global Health Financing: Charting an Equitable Path Forward." This focused session shed light on redefining global health funding mechanisms to support pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response and reconstructing global health financing through equitable and sustainable partnerships.

Panelist Dr. Patricia Garcia, former Minister of Health of Peru emphasized, “What we are talking about when we say ‘decolonizing’ is how low- and middle-income countries can be empowered and how we can construct a system with less inequity.” While highlighting the role of universities as catalytic centers of change, she concluded that “pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response financing is not a matter of charity but a matter of global health security.” Alongside Dr. Garcia, the panel featured Dr. Stefano M. Bertozzi, Aida Kurtovic, Ambassador Akua Sena Dansua, and Dr. Jorge Saavedra, who collectively highlighted the necessity of fair, transparent, and efficient financing mechanisms.

Decolonizing global health is critical to addressing global health emergencies. Dr. Saavedra, a panelist and the Executive Director of the AHF Global Public Health Institute, emphasized, "The current dengue crisis in Brazil and Latin America is just another example of how outbreaks affecting millions in all countries of one region is not considered to be important enough to be declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO. Regions should have the power to declare their own public health emergencies to mobilize international resources to respond to them effectively.”

As countries negotiate to reshape the existing global health security architecture, it is vital that they adequately address decolonizing global health financing as a critical imperative. Beyond merely correcting outdated vertical modes of interaction between nations, this imperative represents a just and effective way to empower countries to collaborate toward making the world safer from pandemics.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a global non-profit organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to over 1.9 million people in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. We are currently the largest non-profit provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the world. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare

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