Dr. Grace Ogiehor-Enoma is the head hospital administrator at New York Presbyterian Queens and executive director of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America. We interviewed her as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what she had to say. The hospital I work at has been an epicentre of COVID-19. Before this, we may have had 30 patients in the emergency room, but during the surge of COVID, we were having 150 to 200. Thankfully, over the past...
Tsion Firew is a doctor of emergency medicine at Columbia University. We interviewed her as as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what she had to say in the interview. During my career I’ve focused a lot on global health work — from serving as a medic in Iraq during the war, to being on the front line in Mosul during the fight against ISIS. When people talk to me about coronavirus and say: “This is like a battle...
Aya Chebbi is an activist and AU Youth Envoy. We interviewed her as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what she had to say. The COVID-19 pandemic is taking over the world, causing a worldwide impact on education. School and university closures are disrupting the education of over 1.53 billion learners, 743 million of whom are girls. School and university students around the world have had to adapt to e-learning. Lockdowns, quarantines, curfews, isolation, and social distancing that you...
Even before COVID-19, 90% of children in low-income countries could not read and understand a simple sentence. The global learning crisis is the biggest educational threat of our time, not just because it means that individual potential is being squandered. The world’s future hangs in the balance. After all, the children of today are the doctors and public health professionals of tomorrow. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, this sobering picture has only gotten worse. At its peak, COVID-19 pushed 1.6 billion...
Melene Rossouw is the founder of Women Lead Movement. We interviewed her as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what she had to say. Within a few short months, COVID-19 has left a trail of devastation. It has severely affected our health and social welfare systems. In poorer countries, it has exacerbated another humanitarian crisis, where the fight between virus, hunger, and adequate hygiene has become a daily and ever growing battle and concern. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed our...
Before COVID-19, 135 million were experiencing hunger so severe that it threatened their lives and livelihoods. Now with COVID-19, that number could double by the end of 2020. Pandemics and hunger crises go hand in hand. COVID-19 is no different. The economic impact of the pandemic translates into poverty as millions of people’s sources of income fall due to job losses. Remittances to low-and middle-income countries are expected to fall by 20% in 2020, more than double international aid to...
As part of our #PassTheMic series, where global health experts take over celebrities’ social media channels to discuss COVID-19, Actress Julia Roberts interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Here’s Julia’s interview with “maybe the coolest man on the planet right now.” Hear more from experts in our #PassTheMic campaign,  Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more.
Dr. Bonaventura Clotet is the director and president of Fundació Lluita contra la Sida (Fight against AIDS Foundation). We interview Dr. Clotet as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what he had to say. This is a virus that recombines significantly, which is why it became even more contagious. So we need to design a new strategy that can cope with all these variations and mutations. I think what’s very important these days is that we move forward to set...
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is chair of the GAVI board and the former finance minister of Nigeria. Danai Gurira interviewed Dr. Okonjo-Iweala as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what she had to say. This pandemic has made the world wake up to interconnectedness — how we are so interconnected that people in a remote area in one country are connected to a remote area in another country. What that says to me is that no one in the world...
Dr. Craig Spencer works in an emergency department in charge of its global health programme and is on the board of directors of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). We interviewed Dr. Spencer as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what he had to say. We’re not safe until this virus is controlled everywhere, whether it’s in Alabama or Burundi. I recognize that for us in the US, the acute focus needs to be on our preparation and saving...