Artificial intelligence, accountability, and authenticity knowledge production and power in global health crisis

Artificial intelligence, accountability, and authenticity: knowledge production and power in global health crisis

Global health

I know and appreciate Joseph, a Kenyan health leader from Murang’a County, for years of diligent leadership and contributions as a Scholar of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF). Recently, he began submitting AI-generated responses to Teach to Reach Questions that were meant to elicit narratives grounded in his personal experience. Seemingly unrelated to this, OpenAI just announced plans for specialized AI agents—autonomous systems designed to perform complex cognitive tasks—with pricing ranging from $2,000 monthly for a “high-income knowledge worker” equivalent to $20,000 monthly for “PhD-level” research capabilities. This is happening at a time when traditional funding structures in global health, development, and humanitarian response face unprecedented volatility. These developments intersect around fundamental questions of knowledge economics, authenticity, and power in global health contexts. I want to explore three questions: Artificial intelligence within punitive accountability structures of global health For years, Joseph had shared thoughtful, context-rich contributions based on his direct experiences. …

Peer learning through Psychological First Aid: New ways to strengthen support for Ukrainian children

Peer learning for Psychological First Aid: New ways to strengthen support for Ukrainian children

Writing

This article is based on Reda Sadki’s presentation at the ChildHub “Webinar on Psychological First Aid for Children; Supporting the Most Vulnerable” on 6 March 2025. Learn more about the Certificate peer learning programme on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Get insights from professionals who support Ukrainian children. “I understood that if we want to cry, we can cry,” reflected a practitioner in the Certificate peer learning programme on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine – illustrating the kind of personal transformation that complements technical training. During the ChildHub “Webinar on Psychological First Aid for Children; Supporting the Most Vulnerable”, the Geneva Learning Foundation’s Reda Sadki explained how peer learning provides value that traditional training alone cannot deliver. The EU-funded program on Psychological First Aid (PFA) for children demonstrates that practitioners …

New ways to learn and lead HPV vaccination Bridging planning and implementation gaps

HPV vaccination: New learning and leadership to bridge the gap between planning and implementation

Global health

This article is based on my presentation about HPV vaccination at the 2nd National Conference on Adult Immunization and Allied Medicine of the Indian Society for Adult Immunization (ISAI), Science City, Kolkata, on 15 February 2025. The HPV vaccination implementation challenge The global landscape of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer prevention reveals a mix of progress and persistent challenges. While 144 countries have introduced HPV vaccines nationally and vaccination has shown remarkable efficacy in reducing cervical cancer incidence, significant disparities persist, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Evidence suggests that challenges in implementing and sustaining HPV vaccination programs in developing countries are significantly influenced by gaps between planning at national level and execution at local levels. Multiple studies confirm this disconnect as a primary barrier to effective HPV vaccination programmes. Traditional approaches to knowledge development in global health often rely on expert committee models characterized by hierarchical knowledge flows, formal …

A global health framework for Artificial Intelligence as co-worker to support networked learning and local action

A global health framework for Artificial Intelligence as co-worker to support networked learning and local action

Global health

The theme of International Education Day 2025, “AI and education: Preserving human agency in a world of automation,” invites critical examination of how artificial intelligence might enhance rather than replace human capabilities in learning and leadership. Global health education offers a compelling context for exploring this question, as mounting challenges from climate change to persistent inequities demand new approaches to building collective capability. The promise of connected communities Recent experiences like the Teach to Reach initiative demonstrate the potential of structured peer learning networks. The platform has connected over 60,000 health workers, primarily government workers from districts and facilities across 82 countries, including those serving in conflict zones, remote rural areas, and urban settlements. For example, their exchanges about climate change impacts on community health point the way toward more distributed forms of knowledge creation in global health.  Analysis of these networks suggests possibilities for integrating artificial intelligence not merely …

Peer learning in immunisation programmes

Peer learning in immunization programmes

and Global health

The path to strengthening immunization systems requires innovative technical assistance approaches to learning and capacity building. A recent correspondence in The Lancet proposes peer learning in immunization programmes as a crucial mechanism for achieving the goals of the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030), arguing for “an intentional, well coordinated, fit-for-purpose, data-driven, and government-led immunisation peer-learning plan of action.” This proposal merits careful examination, particularly as immunization programmes face complex challenges in reaching 2030 goals. Learn more: 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Beyond traditional knowledge exchange The Lancet commentary identifies several key rationales for peer learning in immunization. These insights point toward an important truth: traditional approaches to knowledge sharing – whether through technical guidelines, formal training, or policy exchange – remain necessary but increasingly insufficient for today’s challenges. The question becomes not just how to share what we know, but how to systematically generate new knowledge about …

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. Listen to this article below. Subscribe to The Geneva Learning Foundation’s podcast for more audio content. 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 …

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 …