Mark Dybul is the co-director of the Centre for Global Health Practice and Impact, and professor at Georgetown University. We interviewed him as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what he had to say. This is the first time really since 1918 that the world has encountered a pandemic that reaches every corner of the earth. As soon as restrictions start to lift, the infection will start to pop up from people moving around. So we need to...
Andy Slavitt is a senior advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Centre. We interviewed Andy as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what he had to say. Up until now, we’ve all been dealing with shock and a lack of context at being able to respond to a situation that’s out of most people’s experience base. So there are all kinds of fears and adjustments that have had to happen. However, we have learned at this point in time that...
Raj Mariwala is the director of Mariwala Health Initiative, which supports organisations in India to provide mental health services to all. We interviewed her as part of our #PassTheMic campaign. Here’s some of what she had to say. COVID has shown a lot of the fault lines in our health systems, particularly around leaving people behind. We’re only as strong as the system is. So if it’s built for a certain type of person, and we know that COVID affects marginalised...
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 Danai Gurira interviewed Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, chair of the GAVI board and the former finance minister of Nigeria. Here’s Danai’s interview with Dr. Ngozi about why she’s optimistic that we will learn lessons that push the world in a better direction after COVID-19. Hear more from experts in our #PassTheMic campaign,  Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more.