Why 3.5 Billion People Lack Basic Oral Care—and What Needs to Change

13/04/2025 Maayan Hoffman

Half of the world’s population has no access to any kind of oral care and lives with untreated oral disease every day, according to Dr. Habib Benzian, a dentist and professor of epidemiology and health promotion at New York University. “There’s no other disease group that affects so many people,” Benzian said. In fact, oral […] Continue reading ->

Why Do Health Inequality Solutions Keep Failing?

15/03/2025 Maayan Hoffman

How can health inequality be reduced? This was the topic of the most recent episode of the Global Health Matters podcast with Dr. Garry Aslanyan. Understanding Health Inequality “Health inequity is produced by and within social relations that govern the production and exchange of concrete material things that we need to survive and flourish, to […] Continue reading ->

‘I Cried Every Day’—How a Noma Survivor Turned Tragedy Into Triumph

15/03/2025 Maayan Hoffman

“There is ability in disability,” says Mulikat Okanlawon, a Noma survivor from Nigeria. Okanlawon shared this message on a recent episode of the Global Health Matters podcast with Dr. Garry Aslanyan. The episode was one of two focused on the real-life experiences of people living with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Noma primarily affects children. The […] Continue reading ->

Is ‘White Saviorism’ Blocking Progress in Global Health?

18/01/2025 Maayan Hoffman

How do you define “white saviorism?” According to Themrise Khan, white saviorism is “imprinted psychologically in the minds of anyone who wants to be a saviour, anyone who thinks that they are superior to others and thinks that it is only them who can bring betterment into the lives of others.” This phenomenon often manifests […] Continue reading ->

Breaking Barriers: How Young People Are Shaping Global Health Policy

27/11/2024 Maayan Hoffman

With half of the global population now under the age of 30, the question of how to involve younger adults in global health decision-making is becoming increasingly urgent. In the latest episode of the Global Health Matters podcast, Dr. Garry Aslanyan invites three young leaders to discuss the role of youth in shaping health-related policies […] Continue reading ->

UNICEF: 1 in 7 Young People Live with a Mental Disorder. How Will We Address this Growing Crisis?

10/11/2024 Maayan Hoffman

One in seven young people aged 10 to 19 live with a diagnosable mental disorder, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). One in four children lives with a parent with a mental health condition. Suicide is the fourth most significant cause of death for adolescents globally. The economic cost of neglecting youth mental […] Continue reading ->

Three African Countries Have Eliminated Malaria. What’s Stopping The Others?

05/10/2024 Maayan Hoffman

Three African countries—Algeria, Cabo Verde, and Mauritius—have successfully eliminated malaria, but dozens more still face this deadly disease. Globally, only 44 countries have eradicated malaria. The question of whether the rest of Africa catch up was explored in the latest Global Health Matters podcast, hosted by Dr. Garry Aslanyan. To delve into this issue, Aslanyan […] Continue reading ->

Could Vaccine Misinformation Lead to a Worldwide Health Crisis?

24/08/2024 Maayan Hoffman

How did vaccines, once hailed as essential tools for global peace, security and international cooperation, become something that some now fear could kill them? This is the focus of the latest episode of the Global Health Matters podcast, hosted by Garry Aslnyan. In an interview with author Peter Hotez, the discussion delves into how misinformation […] Continue reading ->

Positioning the University of Ghana as a ‘Research-Intensive’ Institution on Neglected Diseases

03/07/2024 Jessica Ahedor

Almost 15 years ago, when the University of Ghana established its Office of Research, Innovation, and Development, it did so with the goal of bolstering the West African nation’s research capacity. In the African region, where less than 0.5% of GDP is devoted to research, and a significant number of Africa’s educated is siphoned off […] Continue reading ->

What Role Does Capacity Development Play in Transforming Health Research?

22/06/2024 Maayan Hoffman

The latest episode of the Global Health Matters podcast, hosted by Dr Garry Aslanyan, delves into the extraordinary careers of two global health leaders and the crucial role that capacity development has played in their journeys. This episode, produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical […] Continue reading ->