20250717.PFA Accelerator article

PFA Accelerator: across Europe, practitioners learn from each other to strengthen support to children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine

Reda SadkiGlobal health

In the PFA Accelerator, practitioners supporting children are teaching each other what works. Every Friday, more than 240 education, social work, and health professionals across Ukraine and Europe file reports on the same question: What happened when you tried to help a child this week? Their answers – grounded in their daily work – are creating new insights into how Psychological First Aid (“PFA”) works in active conflict zones, displacement centers, and communities hosting Ukrainian families. These practitioners implement practical actions with children each week, then share what they learn with colleagues from all over Europe who face similar challenges. The tracking reveals stark patterns. More than half work with children showing anxiety, fear, and stress responses triggered by air raids, family separation, or displacement. Another 42% focus on children struggling to connect with others in unfamiliar places—Ukrainian teenagers isolated in Polish schools, families in Croatian refugee centers, children moved …

Why peer learning is critical to survive the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Why peer learning is critical to survive the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

María, a pediatrician in Argentina, works with an AI diagnostic system that can identify rare diseases, suggest treatment protocols, and draft reports in perfect medical Spanish. But something crucial is missing. The AI provides brilliant medical insights, yet María struggles to translate them into action in her community. What is needed to realize the promise of the Age of Artificial Intelligence? Then she discovers the missing piece. Through a peer learning network—where health workers develop projects addressing real challenges, review each other’s work, and engage in facilitated dialogue—she connects with other health professionals across Latin America who are learning to work with AI as a collaborative partner. Together, they discover that AI becomes far more useful when combined with their understanding of local contexts, cultural practices, and community dynamics. This speculative scenario, based on current AI developments and existing peer learning successes, illuminates a crucial insight as we ascend into …

What does AI reasoning revolution mean for global health

What does AI reasoning mean for global health?

Reda SadkiArtificial intelligence, Global health

When epidemiologists investigate a disease outbreak, they do not just match symptoms to known pathogens. They work through complex chains of evidence, test hypotheses, reconsider assumptions when data does not fit, and sometimes completely change their approach based on new information. This deeply human process of systematic reasoning is what artificial intelligence systems are now learning to do. This capability represents a fundamental shift from AI that recognizes patterns to AI that can work through complex problems the way a skilled professional would. For those working in global health and education, understanding this transformation is essential. The difference between answering and reasoning To understand this revolution, consider how most AI works today versus how reasoning AI operates. Traditional AI excels at pattern recognition. Show it a chest X-ray, and it can identify pneumonia by matching patterns it learned from millions of examples. Ask it about disease symptoms, and it retrieves …

The funding crisis solution hiding in plain sight

The funding crisis solution hiding in plain sight

Reda SadkiGlobal health

“I did not realize how much I could do with what we already have.” A Nigerian health worker’s revelation captures what may be the most significant breakthrough in global health implementation during the current funding crisis. While organizations worldwide slash programs and lay off staff, a small Swiss non-profit, The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF), is demonstrating how to achieve seven times greater likelihood of improved health outcomes while cutting costs by 90 percent. The secret lies not in new technology or additional resources, but in something deceptively simple: health workers learning from and supporting each other. Nigeria: Two weeks to connect thousands, four weeks to change, and six weeks to outcomes On June 26, 2025, representatives from 153 global health and humanitarian organizations gathered for a closed-door briefing seeking proven solutions to implementation challenges they knew all too well. TGLF presented evidence from the Nigeria Immunization Agenda 2030 Collaborative that sounds almost …

When funding shrinks, impact must grow the economic case for peer learning networks-small

When funding shrinks, impact must grow: the economic case for peer learning networks

Reda SadkiGlobal health, The Geneva Learning Foundation

Humanitarian, global health, and development organizations confront an unprecedented crisis. Donor funding is in a downward spiral, while needs intensify across every sector. Organizations face stark choices: reduce programs, cut staff, or fundamentally transform how they deliver results. Traditional capacity building models have become economically unsustainable. Technical assistance, expert-led workshops, international travel, and venue-based training are examples of high-cost, low-volume activities that organizations may no longer be able to afford. Yet the need for learning, coordination, and adaptive capacity has never been greater. The opportunity cost of inaction Organizations that fail to adapt face systematic disadvantage. Traditional approaches cannot survive current funding constraints while maintaining effectiveness. Meanwhile, global challenges intensify: climate change drives new disease patterns; conflict disrupts health systems; demographic transitions strain capacity. These complex, interconnected challenges require adaptive systems that respond at the speed and scale of emerging threats. Organizations continuing expensive, ineffective approaches will face programmatic obsolescence. …

More with less

Global health: learning to do more with less

Reda SadkiGlobal health

In a climate of funding uncertainty, what if the most cost-effective investments in global health weren’t about supplies or infrastructure, but human networks that turn learning into action? In this short review article, we explore how peer learning networks that connect human beings to learn from and support each other can transform health outcomes with minimal resources. The common thread uniting the different themes below reveals a powerful principle for our resource-constrained era: structured peer learning networks consistently deliver outsized impact relative to their cost. Whether connecting health workers battling vaccine hesitancy in rural communities, maintaining essential immunization services during a global pandemic, supporting practitioners helping traumatized Ukrainian children, integrating AI tools ethically, or amplifying women’s voices from the frontlines – each case demonstrates how connecting practitioners across geographical and hierarchical boundaries transforms individual knowledge into collective action. When health systems face funding shortfalls, these examples suggest that investing in …

Equity matters: A practical approach to identify and eliminate biases

Patterns of prejudice: Connecting the dots helps health workers combat bias worldwide

Reda SadkiGlobal health

English | Français “I noticed that every time he went to appointments or emergency services, he was often met with suspicion or treated as if he was exaggerating his symptoms,” shared a community support worker from Canada, describing how an Indigenous teenager waited three months for mental health services while non-Indigenous youth were seen within weeks. This testimony was just one of hundreds shared during an unusual global gathering where frontline health workers confronted an uncomfortable truth: healthcare systems worldwide are riddled with biases that determine who lives and who dies. “Equity Matters: A Practical Approach to Identify and Eliminate Biases,” a special event hosted by the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) on 10-11 April 2025, drew nearly 5,000 health professionals from 72 countries. What made the event distinctive wasn’t just its scope, but its approach: creating a forum where community health workers from rural Nigeria could share insights alongside WHO …

L’équité, ça compte: Une approche pratique pour identifier et éliminer les biais

L’équité compte: quand les soignants du monde entier témoignent des inégalités en santé

Reda SadkiGlobal health

English | Français GENÈVE, le 11 avril 2025 – Une initiative internationale inédite a rassemblé près de 5000 professionnels de santé pour partager leurs expériences face aux discriminations dans l’accès aux soins « Un enfant est mort parce que sa famille ne pouvait pas déposer 500 000 nairas [environ 300 francs suisses] avant le début des soins. Le père avait pourtant supplié qu’on s’occupe de l’enfant, proposant 100 000 nairas et promettant de vendre son bétail pour payer le reste. » Ce récit glaçant d’un professionnel de santé nigérian illustre la dure réalité des inégalités d’accès aux soins dont de nombreux témoignages ont été partagés lors d’un événement international consacré à l’équité en santé. Le 11 avril dernier, la Fondation Apprendre Genève a créé un espace de dialogue sans précédent, rassemblant près de 5 000 professionnels de la santé de 72 pays, dont 1 830 francophones. Intitulé « L’équité compte: …

Why YouTube is obsolete

Why YouTube is obsolete: From linear video content consumption to AI-mediated multimodal knowledge production

Reda SadkiGlobal health, Learning

Does the educational purpose of video change with AI? The purpose of video in education is undergoing a fundamental transformation in the age of artificial intelligence. This medium, long established in digital learning environments, is changing not just in how we consume it, but in its very role within the learning process. Video has always been a problem in education Video has always presented significant challenges in educational contexts. Its linear format makes it difficult to skim or scan content. Unlike text, which allows learners to quickly jump between sections, glance at headings, or scan for key information, video requires sequential consumption. This constraint has long been problematic for effective learning. Furthermore, in many regions where our learners are based, internet access remains expensive, unreliable, or limited. Downloading or streaming video content can be prohibitively costly in terms of both data usage and time. The result is straightforward: few learners …

Chilling effect

Chilling effect

Reda SadkiGlobal health

We reached out to senior decision makers working in global health about the new Certificate peer learning programme for equity in research and practice. Crickets. One CEO wrote: “We aren’t currently in a position to enter into new strategic partnerships on the topic.” The chilling effect is real. Many organizations are retreating from publicly championing equity work—even those with deep commitments to fairness and inclusion. But here’s the opportunity: While public discourse faces headwinds, meaningful work continues through trusted networks and communities of practice. This is precisely when innovation in equity approaches accelerates—away from the spotlight but with profound impact. The evidence is clear: health systems that neglect equity waste resources and deliver poorer outcomes. When research excludes key populations or policies overlook certain communities, we all lose—through inefficiency, increased costs, and diminished impact. This moment calls for courage from those who understand that equity is fundamental to effective health …