Taking the Temperature of Global Health with Professors Ellen Foley and Tsitsi Masvawure

Challenge. Change.

Many people use life expectancy as the key metric for measuring global health. Ellen Foley and Tsitsi Masvawure know global health is much more nuanced and complicated. The two are co-editors of the new book “The Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Global Health,” which reframes global health and asks how partnerships can become more equitable.

Foley is a professor in Clark’s Department of Sustainability and Social Justice. Masvawure is a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Both are medical anthropologists who study health in Africa and HIV. Their book explores the complex relationship between anthropology and global health. Throughout the volume, scholars from around the world examine topics including rare diseases, HIV, health security, indigenous communities, decolonizing global health, and more.

“There's been a huge movement to decolonize global health,” says Foley. “It should not be about wealthy Western or Northern countries coming to help and bringing money and expertise.

“Why should a researcher from Clark or WPI apply for a grant to get millions of dollars to go research in Senegal without somebody from Senegal sitting on the panel, evaluating the quality of that project,” Foley continues. “I think all the stakeholders should be at the table at every stage. The most involved folks should be weighing in on those decisions, which is not how global health has worked in the past.”

Masvawure notes that while many funding agencies think of health as levels of disease, global health includes upstream and downstream factors. This includes addressing factors like housing insecurity and food access to reduce levels of diabetes, for example.

“If we think of global health as the state of health in the world — all of us together — that should allow movement to take place in any direction,” she says. “If malaria is emerging in the U. S., for example, then let's connect with those countries that have been dealing with malaria forever to help shape the American response. That's one way we can start to make those partnerships equitable.”

Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.