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

Reda SadkiGlobal 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. …

New ways to learn and lead HPV vaccination

AI podcast explores surprising insights from health workers about HPV vaccination

Reda SadkiGlobal health

This is an AI podcast featuring two hosts discussing an article by Reda Sadki titled “New Ways to Learn and Lead HPV Vaccination: Bridging Planning and Implementation Gaps.” The conversational format involves the AI hosts taking turns explaining key points and sharing insights about Sadki’s work on HPV vaccination strategies. While the conversation is AI-generated, everything is based on the published article and insights from the experiences of thousands of health workers participating in Teach to Reach. The Geneva Learning Foundation’s approach Throughout the podcast, the hosts explore how the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) has developed a five-step process to improve HPV vaccination implementation through their “Teach to Reach” program. This process involves: The hosts emphasize that this approach represents a shift from traditional top-down strategies to one that values the collective intelligence of over 16,000 global health workers who implement these programs. Surprising findings The AI hosts discuss several …

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

Reda SadkiGlobal 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 …

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

Reda SadkiGlobal 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

Reda SadkiGlobal 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 …

Why answer Teach to Reach Questions-small

Why answer Teach to Reach Questions?

Reda SadkiGlobal health

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 works for health. What are Teach to Reach Questions? Once you join Teach to Reach (what is it?), you’ll receive questions about real-world challenges that matter to health professionals. How does it work? What’s different about these questions? Unlike typical surveys that just collect data, Teach to Reach Questions are active learning that: See what we give back to the community. Get the English-language collection of Experiences shared from Teach to Reach 10. The new compendium includes over 600 health worker experiences about immunisation, climate change, malaria, NTDs, and digital health. A second collection of …

Teach to Reach network of organizational leaders

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

Reda SadkiGlobal health

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 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 pedagogy of Teach to Reach

What is the pedagogy of Teach to Reach?

Reda SadkiGlobal 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 …

Teach to Reach 10 Experiences shared

Experiences shared at Teach to Reach 10

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Before, during, and after Teach to Reach on 20-21 June 2024, 21,398 health workers across the Global South—from veteran national managers to newly-trained community health workers—shared their unfiltered, frontline experiences of delivering care in an increasingly complex world. Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, The Geneva Learning Foundation has just released the English-language collection of “Experiences shared“. A second collection of experiences shared by French-speaking participants is also available. This remarkable collection captures over 600 experiences that health workers shared, in their own words, offering rare, ground-level perspectives on how global health challenges manifest in communities. Themes and topics explored in this collection: Through questions that probe specific moments rather than seeking generalizations, these accounts detail personal encounters with everything from climate change’s effects on malaria transmission to the challenges of integrating immunization with other health services. Health workers share candid stories of their successes, failures, and innovations: using WhatsApp …

Teach to Reach 11 briefing for partners

Ahead of Teach to Reach 11, organizational leaders share experience of ‘what works’ for health

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Over 730 organizations have already confirmed their participation in Teach to Reach 11, a peer learning platform, network, and community for health workers facilitated by the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF). This announcement came during TGLF’s first partnership briefing held on 16 October 2024. Voir la présentation aux partenaires en français… Teach to Reach, which connects health professionals across borders, is expanding its focus on local partnerships for its upcoming 11th edition, scheduled for 5-6 December 2024. Why does this matter? The initiative’s reach is substantial. Teach to Reach 10, held in June 2024, attracted 21,398 participants from over 70 countries. Notably, 80% of participants were from district and facility levels. Each participant is now being encouraged to involve their organization – and to invite staff, volunteers, and community members to join. “I plan to involve women from every province. We made a small committee. So our network is represented“ at …