Medical workers get dressed in protective clothing. UN Photo/Martine Perret 18 August 2019 Butembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Why We Need to “Decolonize” Global Health

It was a combination of imperial ambition and white supremacy that inspired the advent of the field of global health in the 19th century — and that colonialist legacy can still be seen in the practice of global health today.

As my guest today Dr. Ashti Doobay-Persaud explains, the colonialist legacy of the field of global health still influences how funding decisions are made and how medical students are sometimes trained, among other things.

We kick off discussing the colonialist history of the practice of global health. We then have a broad conversation about what can be done to decolonize global health, including the role of academic institutions in this effort.

Guest: Dr. Ashti Doobay-Persaud is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Northwestern University where she co-directs the Center for Global Health Education and is the Faculty Director of the Master of Science in Global Health program.

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