This paper promotes reflexive consideration of health research practices using a decolonisation lens. We propose both incremental and more radical action in five domains: knowledge production, funding and programmes, dissemination, uptake, and education and training. We suggest four steps towards transformation and share a reflexive tool to operationalise these steps. Tagoe, N., Abimbola, S., Bilardi, […]
Abstract Global health, as noted in the emerging decolonizing global health literature, is built on power asymmetries and inequities, is centred on individuals and organizations in the global north, and involves a north to south diffusion of ideas and resources. Despite increasing attention paid to the decolonization of global health, there is no universal understanding […]
Internalised racism constitutes an adoption of beliefs about one’s inferiority, weaknesses or shortcomings as a function of racial hierarchy affecting one’s identity and self-worth, thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Internalised racism stems from widely known and discussed institutional racial discrimination, which perpetuates epistemic injustice, social injustice and health inequities in global health. In this article, reflecting […]
In March, 2024, Safiyyah Abbas and Lucy Mitchell highlighted the atrocities unfolding in Gaza and the failure of Australian medical institutions to mount a meaningful protest. Since then, the Israeli Government’s sustained and widespread assaults on civilians—combined with deliberate obstruction of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies—have prompted the International Criminal Court to issue arrest […]
Abstract The spectre of human-induced climate change has drawn attention to the need to discover new, environmentally sustainable approaches to healthcare. This article draws upon David McPherson’s The Virtues of Limits (2021) to develop a virtue ethics for sustainability in healthcare. I explore how a virtuous appreciation of the value of healthcare resources can lead us to […]
ABSTRACT Health systems contribute to the environmental crisis. Yet, addressing this problem seems to generate a resource allocation dilemma for hospitals: investing in healthcare delivery seems to mean sacrificing environmental goods, and vice versa. We question this zero-sum thinking. After presenting the benefits of investing in the two seemingly competing goods—environmental goods and health goods—we […]
Abstract Human activity is now having a defining influence on global systems. The Anthropocene epoch requires revisiting our ethical presuppositions to understand our relationship to the earth’s life support systems. The Land Ethic of Aldo Leopold proposes an ethic that is diachronic, holistic, and biocentric, in contrast to the synchronic, individualist, and anthropocentric axioms of […]
Abstract In this paper, I am concerned with how healthcare systems ought to transition away from the greenhouse gas emissions that they have historically relied on to provide care. I address two questions in relation to this issue. The first is what emissions target should healthcare systems adopt? Second, is how should the burdens of […]
Recent literature has drawn attention to the complex relationship between health care and the environmental crisis. Healthcare systems are significant contributors to climate change and environmental degradation, and the environmental crisis is making our health worse and thus putting more pressure on healthcare systems; our health and the environment are intricately linked. In light of […]
Our healthcare systems are responsible for delivering essential, often life-saving care to patients within the society that they serve. It has long been recognised that healthcare systems, as basic social institutions, have duties of health and social justice.1 Healthcare systems should help ensure people are free of preventable morbidity and mortality2 and able to function normally3 such that […]