The cost of inaction Quantifying the impact of climate change on health

The cost of inaction: Quantifying the impact of climate change on health

Global health

This World Bank report ‘The Cost of Inaction: Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries’ presents new analysis of climate change impacts on health systems and outcomes in the regions that are bearing the brunt of these impacts. Key analytical insights to quantify climate change impacts on health The report makes three contributions to our understanding of climate-health interactions: First, it quantifies the massive scale of climate change impacts on health, projecting 4.1-5.2 billion climate-related disease cases and 14.5-15.6 million deaths in LMICs by 2050. This represents a significant advancement over previous estimates, which the report demonstrates were substantial underestimates. Second, it illuminates the profound economic consequences, calculating costs of $8.6-20.8 trillion by 2050 (0.7-1.3% of LMIC GDP). The report employs both Value of Statistical Life and Years of Life Lost approaches to provide a range of economic impact estimates. Third, it reveals stark …

Donald A. Schön The new scholarship requires a new epistemology

Knowing-in-action: Bridging the theory-practice divide in global health

Global health

The gap between theoretical knowledge and practical implementation remains one of the most persistent challenges in global health. This divide manifests in multiple ways: research that fails to address practitioners’ urgent needs, innovations from the field that never inform formal evidence systems, and capacity building approaches that cannot meet the massive scale of learning required. Donald Schön’s seminal 1995 analysis of the “dilemma of rigor or relevance” in professional practice offers crucial insights for “knowing-in-action“. It can help us understand why transforming global health requires new ways of knowing – a new epistemology. Schön’s analysis: The dilemma of rigor or relevance Schön begins by examining how knowledge becomes institutionalized through education. Using elementary school mathematics as an example, he describes how knowledge is broken into discrete units (“math facts”), organized into progressive modules, assembled into curricula, and measured through standardized tests. This systematization shapes not just content but the entire …

What are the consequences of the false dichotomy between global and local knowledge in health systems

Why guidelines fail: on consequences of the false dichotomy between global and local knowledge in health systems

Global health

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 emerging diseases. The limitations of current approaches The dominant approach privileges global technical expertise, viewing local knowledge primarily through the lens of “implementation barriers” to be overcome. This framework assumes that if only local practitioners would correctly apply global guidance, health outcomes would improve. This assumption falls short in several critical ways: The hidden costs of privileging global expertise When we examine actual practice, we find that privileging global over local knowledge can actively harm health system performance: Evidence from practice Recent experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic provide compelling evidence for the importance of local …

Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, health leaders from 45 countries share malaria solutions in REACH network session

Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, health leaders from 45 countries share malaria experiences in REACH network session

Global health

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 23,000 health professionals registered for its eleventh edition on 5-6 December 2024. The sessions connected community-based health workers with health leaders from districts to national planners from across Africa, Asia, and South America, bringing together government health staff, civil society organizations, teaching hospitals, and international agencies, in a promising cross-section of local-to-global health expertise. Global partnership empowers malaria prevention health leaders The sessions featured RBM Partnership to End Malaria as Teach to Reach’s newest global partner, ahead of a special event on malaria planned for December 10. Read about the RBM-TGLF Partnership… Request your invitation …

Teach to Reach Health workers are sharing how they protected their communities when extreme weather hit

You are not alone: Health workers are sharing how they protected their communities when extreme weather hit

Global health

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 are often the first to respond when disasters strike their communities. Their experiences – whether facing floods, droughts, heatwaves, or storms – contain vital lessons that could help others prepare for and respond to similar challenges. Read the eyewitness report: From community to planet: Health professionals on the frontlines of climate change, Online. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10204660 Why ask health workers about floods, droughts, and heatwaves? “Traditional surveys often ask for general information or statistics,” explains Charlotte Mbuh of The Geneva Learning Foundation. “Teach to Reach Questions are different. We ask health workers to share …

ASTMH 2024 How can we reliably spread evidence-based practices at the speed and scale modern health challenges demand

How can we reliably spread evidence-based practices at the speed and scale modern health challenges demand?

Global health

At a symposium of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting, I explored how peer learning could help us tackle five critical challenges that limit effectiveness in global health. For epidemiologists working on implementation science, peer learning provides a new path for solving one of global health’s most persistent challenges: how to reliably spread evidence-based practices at the speed and scale modern health challenges demand. The evidence suggests we should view peer learning not just as a training approach, but as a mechanism for viral spread of effective practices through health systems. How do we get to attribution? Of course, an epidemiologist will want to know if and how improved health outcomes can be attributed to peer learning interventions. The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) addresses this fundamental challenge in implementation science – proving attribution – through a three-stage process that combines quantitative indicators with qualitative validation. …

Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate

Strengthening primary health care in a changing climate

and Global health

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) as a cornerstone of climate-resilient health systems. First, they note that approximately 90% of essential universal health coverage interventions are delivered through PHC settings, making these facilities and workers the backbone of healthcare delivery. This is particularly significant because PHC systems address many of the health outcomes most affected by climate change, including non-communicable diseases, childhood undernutrition, and common infectious diseases like malaria, diarrheal diseases, and respiratory infections. Furthermore, PHC workers are often the first responders to extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves. They must manage both the immediate health impacts and …

Teach to Reach network of organizational leaders

Teach to Reach’s new leadership network connects health organizations tackling common challenges

Global health

The Geneva Learning Foundation is launching REACH (Relate, Engage, Act, Connect, Help), a new initiative to connect 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 four years–has already documented over 10,000 local solutions and experiences to health challenges by connecting more than 60,000 participants across 77 countries. When organizations began formally participating in Teach to Reach in June 2024, many leaders discovered they were tackling similar challenges. A digital immunization tracking system in Rwanda sparked interest from several African countries. A community engagement approach to vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria resonated with teams in Kenya and Zimbabwe. These spontaneous connections led to the creation of REACH. What is Teach to Reach? “Teach to Reach is a place where you learn in the most formidable way. You’re …

Meeting of The Geneva Learning Foundation's Scholars and Alumni of Ghana

Making connections: Ghana’s Alumni of The Geneva Learning Foundation meet in Accra

Global health

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 represent all levels of the health system, with 8 working at the national level, 8 at regional facilities, 39 in district health services, and 13 in community-based programs. “This is a great opportunity for all health workers for impact,” says one participant, reflecting the anticipation among attendees. These professionals are alumni of TGLF’s programs, including the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) and Teach to Reach initiatives, which focus on transforming global health strategies into practical, locally-adapted solutions. “TGLF’s learning platforms give us great information and knowledge that are feasible and can be applied in …

The pedagogy of Teach to Reach

What is the pedagogy of Teach to Reach?

Global health, Learning strategy, Theory

In a rural health center in Kenya, a community health worker develops an innovative approach to reaching families who have been hesitant about vaccination. Meanwhile, in a Brazilian city, a nurse has gotten everyone involved – including families and communities – onboard to integrate information about HPV vaccination into cervical cancer screening. These valuable insights might once have remained isolated, their potential impact limited to their immediate contexts. But through Teach to Reach – a peer learning platform, network, and community hosted by The Geneva Learning Foundation – these experiences become part of a larger tapestry of knowledge that transforms how health workers learn and adapt their practices worldwide. Since January 2021, the event series has grown to connect over 21,000 health professionals from more than 70 countries, reaching its tenth edition with 21,398 participants in June 2024. Scale matters, but this level of engagement begs the question: how and why does it …