Community engagement is involvement and participation in an organization for the welfare of the community.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, diplomat, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017. Tedros is the first African to become WHO Director-General, receiving an endorsement for the role by the African Union. He played a role in the response to the Ebola virus epidemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022–2023 mpox outbreak.
A public health emergency of international concern is a formal declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of "an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response", formulated when a situation arises that is "serious, sudden, unusual, or unexpected", which "carries implications for public health beyond the affected state's national border" and "may require immediate international action". Under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), states have a legal duty to respond promptly to a PHEIC. The declaration is publicized by an IHR Emergency Committee (EC) of international experts, which was developed following the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
Soumya Swaminathan Yadav is an Indian paediatrician and clinical scientist known for her research on tuberculosis and HIV. From 2019 to 2022, she served as the chief scientist at the World Health Organization under the leadership of Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Previously, from October 2017 to March 2019, she was the Deputy Director General of Programmes (DDP) at the World Health Organization.
Senait Fisseha is an Ethiopian-American physician, lawyer and obstetrician-gynecologist, with a specialization in endocrinology from the University of Michigan. She is currently Vice-President of International Programs at the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation. Fisseha also received her Juris Doctor from Southern Illinois University and is recognized for her advocacy in global reproductive health, rights and gender equality. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she became an advocate for global equity, collaborating closely with African leaders and institutions in her capacity as an advisor and thought leader. Fisseha is the founder of the Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT) at the University of Michigan. She also chaired the election campaign and transition of Tedros Adhanom, the first African Director General of the World Health Organization, in 2016-17.
Jocalyn Clark is a Canadian Public Health Scientist and the International Editor of The BMJ, with responsibility for strategy and internationalising the journal's content, contributors and coverage. From 2016 to 2022, Jocalyn was an Executive Editor at The Lancet, where she led the Commentary section, coordinated peer review, and edited and delivered collections of articles and Commissions on topics such as maternal and child health, oral health, migration, end of life care and gender equity. She led the Lancet's project to advance women in science, medicine, and global health, #LancetWomen. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and an Honorary Associate Professor at the Institute for Global Health at UCL.
The Global Health Security Index is an assessment of global health security capabilities in 195 countries prepared by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
COVID-19 infection in pregnancy is associated with several pregnancy complications. However, pregnancy does not appear to increase the susceptibility of becoming infected by COVID-19. Recommendations for the prevention of COVID-19 include the same measures as non-pregnant people.
Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove is an American infectious disease epidemiologist. With a background in high-threat pathogens, Van Kerkhove specializes in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and is based in the Health Emergencies Program at the World Health Organization (WHO). She is the technical lead of COVID-19 response and the head of emerging diseases and zoonosis unit at WHO.
Community-engaged research (CEnR) is the process of working collaboratively with groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interests, or similar situations with respect to issues affecting their well-being. One of the most widely used forms of community-engaged research is community-based participatory research (CBPR), though it also encompasses action research and participatory action research. Another form of community-engaged research is integrated knowledge translation (iKT), defined as "an approach to doing research that applies the principles of knowledge translation to the entire research process". The iKT evolves around the concept of engaging different levels of knowledge users as equal partners in the research activities so that research outputs are more relevant to, and more likely to be useful to, the knowledge users.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed race-based health care disparities in many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Canada, and Singapore. These disparities are believed to originate from structural racism in these countries which pre-dates the pandemic; a commentary in The BMJ noted that "ethnoracialised differences in health outcomes have become the new normal across the world" as a result of ethnic and racial disparities in COVID-19 healthcare, determined by social factors. Data from the United States and elsewhere shows that minorities, especially black people, have been infected and killed at a disproportionate rate to white people.
Women in Global Health is an organization and a movement that advocates for inclusive gender equity in health by challenging power and privilege. It is the largest community of its kind, with 40 chapters worldwide, working to put the power into the hands women of all backgrounds to create real change across the health sector.
Nisreen Ala-Din A. S. Alwan MBE is a British–Iraqi public health researcher who is a professor of Public Health at the University of Southampton. Her research considers maternal and child health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alwan used social media to communicate public health messages and to call for long covid to be counted and measured. In 2020, Alwan was selected as one of the BBC's top 100 Women.
Shabir Ahmed Madhi, is a South African physician who is professor of vaccinology and director of the South African Medical Research Council Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, and National Research Foundation/Department of Science and Technology Research Chair in Vaccine Preventable Diseases. In January 2021, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand.
African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise(ALIVE), is a South African Department of Science and Technology/National Research Foundation Flagship Initiative at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, established in 2016. It was co-founded by professor of vaccinology Shabir Madhi and runs an 18-month Master of Science in Medicine in the field of Vaccinology. Its members have been contributing to COVID-19 vaccine trials in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jocelyn DeJong is a professor and associate dean at the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut. Her research focuses on sexual and reproductive health, including AIDS, and its relation to population and development. She was a central actor for setting up the first task force on female genital mutilation in Egypt.
The TRIPS Agreement waiver is a joint intervention communication by South Africa and India to the TRIPS council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 2 October 2020.
Madhukar Pai is an Indian medical doctor, academic, advocate, writer, and university professor. Pai's work is around global health, specifically advocacy for better treatment for tuberculosis with a focus on South Africa and India. Pai is the Canada Research Chair of Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University.
Nina Schwalbe is an American public health researcher who is the founder of Spark Street Advisors, a public health think tank based in New York City. Schwalbe specializes in vaccines. She has previously worked at Gavi, UNICEF and USAID.
Annettee Olivia Nakimuli is a Ugandan obstetrician, gynecologist, medical researcher, academic and academic administrator. Since 17 February 2021, she serves as the Dean of Makerere University School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in East Africa. She concurrently serves as the Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the same medical school, a role she has served in since 2016. She is also the President of the East, Central and Southern Africa College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
