climate and health
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Why guidelines fail: on consequences of the false dichotomy between global and local knowledge in health systems
Global health continues to grapple with a persistent tension between standardized, evidence-based interventions developed by international experts and the contextual, experiential local knowledge held by local health workers. This dichotomy – between global expertise and local knowledge – has become increasingly problematic as health systems face unprecedented complexity in addressing challenges from climate change to…
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Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, health leaders from 45 countries share malaria experiences in REACH network session
Nearly 300 malaria prevention health leaders from 45 countries met virtually on November 20, 2024, in parallel English and French sessions of REACH. This new initiative connects organizational leaders tackling malaria prevention and control – and other pressing health challenges – across borders. REACH emerged from Teach to Reach, a peer learning platform with over…
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You are not alone: Health workers are sharing how they protected their communities when extreme weather hit
Today, The Geneva Learning Foundation launched a new set of “Teach to Reach Questions” focused on how health workers protect community health during extreme weather events. This initiative comes at a crucial time, as world leaders at COP29 discuss climate change’s mounting impacts on health. As climate change intensifies extreme weather events worldwide, health workers…
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Why answer Teach to Reach Questions?
Have you ever wished you could talk to another health worker who has faced the same challenges as you? Someone who found a way to keep helping people, even when things seemed impossible? That’s exactly the kind of active learning that Teach to Reach Questions make possible. They make peer learning easy for everyone who…
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Health at COP29: Workforce crisis meets climate crisis
Health workers are already being transformed by climate change. COP29 stakeholders can either support this transformation to strengthen health systems, or risk watching the health workforce collapse under mounting pressures. The World Health Organization’s “COP29 Special Report on Climate Change and Health: Health is the Argument for Climate Action“ highlights the health sector’s role in…
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Critical evidence gaps in the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change
The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change “reveals the health threats of climate change have reached record-breaking levels” and provides “the most up-to-date assessment of the links between health and climate change”. Yet its treatment of experiential knowledge – particularly the direct observations and understanding developed by frontline health workers…
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Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate
A new article by Andy Haines, Elizabeth Wambui Kimani-Murage, and Anya Gopfert, “Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate,” outlines how climate change is already impacting health systems worldwide, with primary health care (PHC) workers bearing the immediate burden of response. Haines and colleagues make a compelling case for strengthening primary health care (PHC)…
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Anecdote or lived experience: reimagining knowledge for climate-resilient health systems
A health worker in rural Kenya notices that malaria cases are appearing earlier in the season than usual. A nurse in Bangladesh observes that certain neighborhoods are experiencing more heat-related illnesses despite similar temperatures. These observations often remain trapped in the realm of “anecdotal evidence.” The dominant epistemological framework in public health traditionally dismisses such…
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Teach to Reach’s new leadership network connects health organizations tackling common challenges
The Geneva Learning Foundation is launching REACH (Relate, Engage, Act, Connect, Help), a new leadership network to connect local, national, and international leaders of health organizations who are solving similar problems in different countries. Launching November 6, 2024 REACH responds to an unexpected outcome of Teach to Reach, a peer learning platform that–in less than…
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Making connections: Ghana’s Alumni of The Geneva Learning Foundation meet in Accra
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) will host its first physical-world meeting of Ghana Scholars and Alumni on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 in Accra. Seventy-two health professionals from across Ghana’s health system will participate in the evening event. The participants include staff from the Ghana Health Service, teaching hospitals, district health directorates, and non-governmental organizations. They…
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