Call for Submissions: Decolonizing Global Health

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization committed to building great leaders to drive the movement for global health equity. AMPLIFY is GHC’s publication for new voices and ideas, straight from our community of over 1,000+ diverse young leaders worldwide. We believe authentic narratives and reflections are critical to advancing progress in global health. This month we’re excited to issue a special call for submissions on the topic of Decolonizing Global Health and invite our followers, supporters, alumni, and fellows to contribute.

“Any western medical institution more than a century old and which claims to stand for peace and justice has to confront a painful truth — that its success was built on the savage legacy of colonialism.” -Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet in a column in December 2019

“At its worst, global health today is a self-congratulatory neocolonial machine in which doctors, professors, researchers and others from wealthy places with abounding privilege are further exalted because they are doing work that their Global South counterparts do as part of their everyday lives with little to no recognition. At its best, it is a humble attempt to equal the playing field of life between North and South by trying to unravel the tightly bound chains of colonialism.” -Abraar Karan in an op-ed for NPR Goats & Soda

Over the past year and beyond, discussions about the harmful and lasting offshoots of global health’s colonial roots have ramped up amongst college students and activists in the Global North. Dialogue has critically examined how the field of modern global health continues to directly drive health inequities and reproduce historical patterns of unequal power relations in myriad ways:

• Visa barriers and homogeneous speaking rosters limit participation at global health conferences held in high-income, colonizer countries in the West.
• Lack of access to global health education and training opportunities holds back talented young people from formerly colonized countries while young people from the West are equipped to impose “solutions” despite lack of relevant context and expertise, with sometimes fatal consequences.
• The vast majority of global health funding is disbursed from wealthy governments and institutions in the Global North that place unrealistic and burdensome restrictions on its use and halt its disbursement on political whims.
• Global North-based industries such as tobacco and processed foods have profited off uninhibited opportunities to expand to markets in the Global South, which has been linked to sharp increases in noncommunicable disease rates in those nations.

As a reminder, we welcome submissions from all followers, supporters, alumni, and current fellows. Our priority date for reviewing draft submissions is March 7. Below are more details on questions to consider addressing and requirements for submissions.

As global health leaders committed to working together across borders and boundaries of all kinds to build a more equitable world, your perspectives are important in this ongoing dialogue. Here are some questions to consider addressing:

• If you are a national of a formerly colonized country, have you experienced or witnessed the impacts of modern day global health being done in ways that reinforce harmful power dynamics?
• If you are a national of a high-income nation from the Global North, what does it mean to you to acknowledge global health’s history and critically examine your participation in what remains a largely unequal project?
• How do these dynamics play out in the U.S., given the country’s terrible legacy of slavery and current manifestations of racism and classism?
• What is the way forward? Where or when have you seen examples of global health interventions that do not reinforce these imbalanced power dynamics?

What can you submit?

• Your words, your format. We welcome personal reflections, photo essays, in-depth analysis, interviews, op-eds and more. Check out AMPLIFY for inspiration on format types.
• Between roughly 300–1000 words. Check out our guide to writing for AMPLIFY for more on what and how to submit.
• Still have questions ? Reach out to brittany@ghcorps.org.

Happy reflecting and writing!

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.