Global Public Health
Volume 11, Issue 3, 2016
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rgph20/current
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Articles
Developing collaborative approaches to international research: Perspectives of new global health researchers
Paula Godoy-Ruiz, Donald C. Cole, Lindsey Lenters & Kwame McKenzie
pages 253-275
Open access
DOI:10.1080/17441692.2014.999814
Abstract
Within a global context of growing health inequities, the fostering of partnerships and collaborative research have been promoted as playing a critical role in tackling health inequities and health system problems worldwide. Since 2004, the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR) has facilitated annual Summer Institutes for new global health researchers aimed at strengthening global health research competencies and partnerships among participants. We sought to explore CCGHR Summer Institute alumni perspectives on the Summer Institute experience, particularly on the individual research pairings of Canadian and low- and middle-income countries researchers that have characterised the program. The results reveal that the Summer Institute offered an enriching learning opportunity for participants and worked to further their collaborative projects through providing dedicated one-on-one time with their international research partner, feedback from colleagues from around the world and mentorship by more senior researchers. Positive individual relationships among researchers, as well as the existence of institutional collaborations, employer and funding support, and agendas of local and national politicians were factors that have influenced the ongoing collaboration of partners. There is a need to more fully examine the interplay between individual and institutional-level collaborations, as well as their social and political contexts.
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Articles
Alternative accounting in maternal and infant global health
Vincanne Adams, Sienna R. Craig & Arlene Samen
DOI:10.1080/17441692.2015.1021364
pages 276-294
Abstract
Efforts to augment accountability through the use of metrics, and especially randomised controlled trial or other statistical methods place an increased burden on small nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) doing global health. In this paper, we explore how one small NGO works to generate forms of accountability and evidence that may not conform to new metrics trends but nevertheless deserve attention and scrutiny for being effective, practical and reliable in the area of maternal and infant health. Through an analysis of one NGO and, in particular, its organisational and ethical principles for creating a network of safety for maternal and child health, we argue that alternative forms of (ac)counting like these might provide useful evidence of another kind of successful global health work
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Vaccine procurement during an influenza pandemic and the role of Advance Purchase Agreements: Lessons from 2009-H1N1
Mark Turner
pages 322-335
DOI:10.1080/17441692.2015.1043743
Abstract
Vaccines are hugely important tools in minimising the effect pandemic influenza could have on a population. The reforms introduced by the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework are ill-suited to providing sufficient levels of access to vaccines to meet the needs of developing states, and as such developing states will continue to be reliant upon the traditional methods of vaccine procurement to procure the majority of the vaccines they required. Using procurement during 2009-H1N1 as a case study, this paper examines the methods of procurement utilised by states in order to determine if the procurement tools available to developing states are sufficient to procure adequate levels of pandemic influenza vaccines. Particular focus is given to the role Advance Purchase Agreements (APAs) play in the procurement process. By exploring this case study it is possible to argue that these procurement methods are ineffective for developing states, and when the next influenza pandemic occurs, demand will once again outstrip supply globally, due to supply of vaccines being dominated by the developed states with APAs in place.