Open Society Foundations’ “Voices”: In the Crosshairs, Syria’s Doctors Are Still Saving Lives — and Bearing Witness Donna McKay, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights, discusses the challenges of delivering health care in Syria and the role health professionals play in advocating for human rights. “In Syria, attacks on…

Devex: Could unemployed youth solve the health care worker crisis? “According to the World Health Organization, 40 million new health and social care jobs must be created globally by 2030 to meet Sustainable Development Goal 3 of universal health coverage. At the same time, global youth unemployment reached 71 million…

The Conversation: How best to prepare for epidemics? Strengthen primary care Ashwin Vasan, assistant professor of Clinical Population Health & Medicine at Columbia University “…Why is primary care important in epidemics like Ebola or Zika? First, we know that primary care providers play an important role in initial outbreak response…

STAT: Global health is an investment we can’t afford to pass up Vanessa Kerry, CEO and cofounder of Seed Global Health “…The huge differences between health care in the developed world and the developing world are due, in part, to the particularly dire shortage of health care workers. … With…

Los Angeles Times: This boy could be one of the world’s last victims of polio “…The narrow Sheltan valley [in Afghanistan], a haven for the Taliban and other insurgents along the border with Pakistan, is also one of the world’s last redoubts for the crippling childhood disease. There have been…

Reuters: Wider Image: Hope for eradicating tuberculosis emerges in Peru slum “…In places like [Peru’s] Villa Esperanza, or Village of Hope, … the problem is inadequate health services to help patients follow through with [tuberculosis (TB)] treatment, which takes six months to a couple years. Partners in Health (PIH) ……

The Conversation: Only a bottom-up approach will deliver global health development targets Karen Daniels, specialist scientist in the Health Systems Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council; Aku Kwamie, health systems researcher at the University of Ghana; and Fadi El-Jardali, professor of health policy and systems at the American…

Devex: Ending polio one community at a time “Social mobilization was the backbone of polio eradication efforts with health workers, combating polio ‘community by community by community,’ UNICEF Executive Director Tony Lake told Devex Impact associate editor Adva Saldinger in an exclusive interview. Understanding the community structure was crucial to…

Quartz: What Africa’s fight against HIV can teach Latin America about Zika Celine Gounder, internist, infectious diseases and public health specialist, and medical journalist “…[Intrauterine devices (IUDs)] and hormonal implants are the most reliable form of reversible contraception, with failure rates of less than one percent. They’re also long-lasting ……

Associated Press: Suicide attack on Pakistan polio center kills 15 “A suicide attack on a polio vaccination center in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday killed 15 people, mainly police who had gathered to escort health workers, who have been repeatedly targeted in recent years by Islamic militants, officials said…” (Sattar/Shahzad, 1/13).…