Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors

How can governments protect and promote mental health and well-being across sectors?

Reda SadkiGlobal health

For decades, global health policy has approached mental illness primarily as a clinical challenge, a condition to be managed within the walls of hospitals and clinics by medical professionals. This biomedical focus, while essential, has often obscured the broader context in which mental health is shaped. A new publication from the World Health Organization, Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors, marks a significant shift in normative standards. It posits that mental health is not merely a health outcome but a structural one, determined as much by the fiscal policy, urban planning, and labor laws of governments as by psychiatric care. A technical framework for cross-sectoral governance The guidance emerges against a backdrop of escalating costs. The global economic burden of mental health conditions is projected to reach US$6 trillion by 2030. In response, the WHO outlines a “whole-of-government” approach, moving …

Subnational tailoring of malaria strategies and interventions

Subnational tailoring of malaria strategies and interventions: bridging the gap between planning and implementation

Reda SadkiGlobal health

The global malaria response is currently navigating a convergence of crises. Epidemiologically, the reduction in mortality has plateaued. Biologically, threats from Anopheles stephensi and partial artemisinin resistance are accelerating. Financially, the 2025 landscape is defined by a severe contraction in foreign assistance, necessitating a radical optimization of resources. In this context, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) new guidance, Subnational tailoring of malaria strategies and interventions (2025), offers a necessary technical framework. However, the manual relies on an implementation architecture that remains fragile. To succeed, the technical rigor of subnational tailoring (SNT) should be coupled with an operational mechanism capable of mobilizing the workforce in the current context. This article examines how digital peer learning-to-action networks offer a potential mechanism to address the operational deficits of conventional technical assistance and capacity building. Subnational tailoring of malaria strategies: moving from blanket coverage to allocative efficiency The rationale for SNT rests on the recognition that transmission heterogeneity …

Retrouver les enfants congolais non-vaccinés: des acteurs de tout le pays lancent le premier Accélérateur zéro-dose pour renforcer la mise en oeuvre et le suivi

Reda SadkiGlobal health

«Si je réussis mon projet de terrain, je m’attends à avoir au moins vacciné 345 enfants». Cet engagement n’a pas été pris par un ministre dans la capitale, mais par Jérémie Mpata Lumpungu, infirmier titulaire dans la province du Kasaï. Il n’était pas seul. Lundi 10 novembre 2025, un appel a résonné à travers la République démocratique du Congo. Depuis Kinshasa, le Dr Josaphat-Francois WETSHIKOY, épidémiologiste, a détaillé son objectif pour les 21 prochains jours: «récupérer 30 % des enfants» non vaccinés dans sa zone cible de 230 000. Barthélemy Daké Saoromou, préparant une stratégie mobile, vise «plus de 500 enfants zéro dose». Cette détermination palpable, venue de praticiens de tout le pays, a marqué le lancement de l’«Accélérateur d’impact zéro-dose». Il ne s’agit pas d’une formation ou d’un atelier de plus. C’est une nouvelle phase d’action, un «système de soutien» pour la mise en oeuvre et le suivi, conçu par …

Green skills and artificial intelligence

The future of work: remarks at the 9th 1M1B Impact Summit held at the United Nations in Geneva

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

On November 7, 2025, Reda Sadki, Executive Director of The Geneva Learning Foundation, joined the panel “The Future of Work: AI and Green Skills” at the 9th 1M1B Impact Summit held at the United Nations in Geneva. Moderated by Elizabeth Saunders, the discussion explored the rapid redefinition of the workforce by artificial intelligence and the green transition. The following is an edited transcript of Mr. Sadki’s remarks. Living with artificial intelligence Moderator: You have just seen some of these really incredible changemaker ideas and so what skills and mindsets stood out to you and how do you think those can be scaled to build a workforce that is living with AI and not competing with it? That is a wonderful question. I would answer that the key skill is learning to work with artificial intelligence. It is likely that your generation will be the first one learning to work side-by-side …

Bill Gates

Development is adaptation: Bill Gates’s shift is actually about linking climate change and health

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Bill Gates’ latest public memo marks a significant shift in how the world’s most influential philanthropist frames the challenge of climate change. He sees a future in which responding to climate threats and promoting well-being become two sides of the same mission, declaring, “development is adaptation.” Gates argues that the principal metric for climate action should not be global temperature or near-term emission reductions alone, but measured improvement in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable populations. He argues that the focus of climate action should be on the “greatest possible impact for the most vulnerable people.” The suffering of poor communities must take priority, since, in his view, “climate change, disease, and poverty are all major problems. We should deal with them in proportion to the suffering they cause.” Climate change is about the health of the most vulnerable This position resonates with a core message that has emerged …

20251029.CLIMATE Lancet Countdown 2025.005.1600

How the Lancet Countdown illuminates a new path to climate-resilient health systems

Reda SadkiGlobal health

The 2025 Lancet Countdown report has begun to acknowledge a critical, often-overlooked source of intelligence to build climate-resilient health systems: the health worker. By including testimonials from health workers alongside formal quantitative evidence, the Lancet cracks open a door, hinting at a world beyond globally standardized datasets. This is a necessary first step. However, the report’s framework for action remains a traditional, top-down model. It primarily frames the health workforce as passive recipients of knowledge—a group that must be “educated and trained” because they are “unprepared”, rather than build on existing evidence that points to health workers as leaders for climate-health resilience. The 2025 report confirms that climate change’s assault on human health has reached alarming new levels. Yet, within this sobering assessment lies a quiet but potentially pivotal shift. For the first time, the Countdown’s country profiles integrate direct testimonials from frontline health workers, explicitly acknowledging their “lived experiences as valuable …

20251029.CLIMATE Lancet Countdown 2025.008.1600

Climate change and health: what the Lancet Countdown says about the value and significance of local knowledge and action

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Here is everything that the new Lancet Countdown says about the value and significance of indigenous and other forms of local knowledge, as well as their value for community-led action to respond to the impacts of climate change on health. Why does this matter? Read our article: How the Lancet Countdown illuminates a new path to climate-resilient health systems On the value of community-led action and the significance of local knowledge Defining community-led action by its local context and empowerment “Community-led actions are those spearheaded by self-organised individuals within a community, working together for a common goal. Rooted in local societal, cultural, and economic contexts, they can promote equity, empower local actors, and strengthen climate resilience.” Community-led action as a driver of meaningful progress “Individual, community-led, and civil society actions can drive meaningful progress with substantial health benefits.” Grassroots activities growing into formal organizations “These grassroots activities can grow into …

Old poison in new bottles

How do we stop AI-generated ‘poverty porn’ fake images?

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

There is an important and necessary conversation happening right now about the use of generative artificial intelligence in global health and humanitarian communications. Researchers like Arsenii Alenichev are correctly identifying a new wave of “poverty porn 2.0,” where artificial intelligence is used to generate stereotypical, racialized images of suffering – the very tropes many of us have worked for decades to banish. The alarms are valid. The images are harmful. But I am deeply concerned that in our rush to condemn the new technology, we are misdiagnosing the cause. The problem is not the tool. The problem is the user. Generative artificial intelligence is not the cause of poverty porn. The root cause is the deep-seeded racism and colonial mindset that have defined the humanitarian aid and global health sectors since their inception. This is not a new phenomenon. It is a long-standing pattern. In my private conversations with colleagues …

State of AI report

What the 2025 State of AI Report means for global health and humanitarian action

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

The 2025 State of AI Report has arrived, painting a picture of an industry being fundamentally reshaped by “The Squeeze.” This is a critical, intensifying constraint on three key resources: the massive-scale compute (processing power) required for training, the availability of high-quality data, and the specialized human talent to build frontier models. This squeeze, the report details, is accelerating a consolidation of power. It favors the “hyperscalers”—the handful of large technology corporations that can afford to build their own power plants to run their data centers. For leaders in global health and humanitarian action, the report is essential reading. However, it must be read with a critical eye. The report’s narrative is, in many ways, the narrative of the hyperscalers. It focuses on the benchmarks they dominate, the closed models they are building, and the resource problems they face. This “view from the top” is valuable, but it is not …

Pour retrouver les enfants congolais non vaccinés, il est question des fumoirs à poisson et du dialogue inter-religieux

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Au deuxième jour de leurs travaux en direct, les professionnels de la santé congolais sont passés de la découverte à l’exploration des causes profondes qui laissent des centaines de milliers d’enfants exposés aux maladies évitables par la vaccination. Ils découvrent que les racines du problème sont souvent là où personne ne les attend: dans l’économie de la pêche, le dialogue avec les églises ou la gestion des camps de déplacés. Lire également: En République démocratique du Congo, la traque des enfants « zéro dose » passe par l’intelligence collective des acteurs de la santé Les analyses, plus fines, révèlent des leviers d’action insoupçonnés, démontrant la puissance d’une méthode qui transforme les soignants en stratèges. « La séance d’hier, c’était une séance de découverte, mais aujourd’hui, c’était une séance d’exploration. Explorer, c’est aller en profondeur. Il faut sonder ». Ces mots de Fidèle Tshibanda Mulangu, un participant congolais, résument la bascule …