Section outline

    • WEEK 6 - LECTURE: CONTEMPORARY ISSUE TWO: RACISM AND COLONIALISM IN GLOBAL HEALTH 


      The field of Global Health is more popular than ever in the wake of the recent pandemic. It addresses the fact that there are huge inequalities in health and access to healthcare worldwide; thus, achieving health equity is a goal for many with interest in this field. Medicine’s role in colonialism cannot be ignored and requires critical review. There is a growing awareness of how knowledge generated in Global North - HICs defines practices and informs thinking to the detriment of knowledge systems in Global South - LMICs countries.  It is important to look at these concepts as wicked problems and how these impact on what we have today. 

      This week's session aims to sensitise you to the negative and problematic practices in Global health that are partly a reflection of its colonial roots and partly a result of current power imbalances.

      The learning objectives for this week are:

      • Define the term 'racism' and 'Colonialism' and apply it to a global public health topic
      • Appreciate the relationship between Global Health and colonialism
      • Identify structural issues and institutional marginalisation that lie in the core of the global issue. 
      • Reflect on the debates on the need for inclusive intervention, equity and sensitivity to the world around us. 
      • Reflect on the action for race equality and decolonisation and why this is needed in research practice or public health intervention.  

       

      Reflect on the questions below during this week tasks - 

      • How do racism and colonialism play a role in what is seen as healthy in our society? 
      • How do the colonial origins of science and medicine persist in health research and global health?
      • Is Global health truly Global? 


      WEEK 6 TASKS

      Task 1 - Watch this short presentation and make some notes on your definition of racism and colonialism in Global Health.

        


        

      Task 2 - Reading   

        

      The second task will be to read the papers listed below. These papers provide an overview of what is meant by decolonising Global Health and provide an understanding of such efforts globally. The papers also considered structural threats to decolonising Global Health. This paper talked about how Decolonising global health advances the agenda of repoliticising and rehistoricising health through a paradigm shift, a leadership shift and a knowledge shift for health equity and justice. 

      After completing the readings, consider this question: Why the need to decolonise the global health?

        

      Task 3 – Please watch this video and make some notes - The House I live in

      This is a good example of how capitalist structure is embedded in policy development in global health and how institutionalised racism and colonialism encourages inequities. The movie described the discrepancies that exist in drug policies and It reflects on the structural ways in which drug laws marginalised Black and minority communities in the US - how the drug policies affect certain groups more than other groups. 

      Consider the following questions: 

      • How could the government and institutions avoid shaping policies through a ‘colonial lens’? 
      • How could more effective public health solutions to drug policies be developed to improve people’s ‘lived experience’ and reduce inequalities?   


      Task 4 – Reading  

       

      Please read the following the article below and reflect on the following question:  Who sets the global health agenda? How do we decolonise the current system, and how do we create space for others to thrive? 


      Task 5 - Reading   

      How do we ensure an inclusive environment despite the existing imbalance power structure? Why does it matter for global health? 


      Task 6:  Podcast

      You can read the article or listen to the podcast and make notes.



      WEEK 6 - WEBINAR

      The webinar will focus on the coloniality of power and structural racism as wicked problems in Global Health. We will critically look at the role of global capitalism in generating the unequal conditions that manifest as health and disease.  

      During the webinar, there will be an opportunity to look at how the language used might contribute to or disrupt structural racism. We will consider how in global health, phrases like “Global South” and “developing countries” are often used uncritically as shorthand for poverty, disease and malnutrition- without considering that the roots of many of these issues can be traced back to colonialism.


      READING 
      Required readings  

        

      Additional readings:  


      Carl Hart - TEDMED https://www.tedmed.com/speakers/show?id=308946

    • Week 6 CONTEMPORARY ISSUE TWO: RACISM AND COLONIALISM IN GLOBAL HEALTH - slides File
      Students must
      Mark as done

      These slides accompany week 6 live lecture

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