Join IDRC at the Canadian Conference on Global Health 2021

You can review the CCGH program here. Attendees from low- and middle-income countries are eligible for complimentary registration. All sessions will be presented with simultaneous English/French translation. 

Please join us for the panels described below.

COVID-19's impact on essential health services in Africa: Addressing the “whats”, “whys” and “hows”  

Wednesday, November 24, 11:00 (EST) a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (EST), Richelieu Room 

This panel will look at the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on health systems on the ground in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Uganda and Mozambique; why some groups developed stronger pandemic resilience while others were more negatively impacted; and how we can learn from the COVID-19 pandemic to better prepare for future epidemics. 

This session is organized by the Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa (IMCHA) Initiative, a partnership between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Global Affairs Canada, and IDRC. 

Speakers: 

• Nafissatou Diop (moderator), IDRC/IMCHA) Initiative, Canada 

• Thomas Druetz, Université de Montréal, Canada; Frank Bicaba, Société d’Etudes et de Recherche en Santé Publique, Burkina Faso 

• Friday Okonofua, Women’s Health and Action Research Centre, Nigeria 

• Elizabeth Kemigisha, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda 

• Ron Siemens, University of Saskatchewan, Canada; Paulo Pires, Universidade Lúrio, Mozambique 

Decolonizing global health funding and research: a conversation on how we could work better together 

Friday, November 26, 1:00 p.m. (EST) to 2:30 p.m. (EST), Richelieu Room 

There are urgent calls to decolonize international development, with global health being one of the key fields to take action. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated power asymmetries in global health as evidenced by the hoarding of vaccines by high-income countries. This session will bring together a diverse set of actors from across the global health research ecosystem to have a frank and productive conversation about how we can do better in the practice of global health. 

Panellists: 

• John Dusabe-Richards (moderator), director, Global Health Division, IDRC, Canada 

• Desmond Jumbam, member of the panel of movers for the Global Health Decolonization Movement in Africa (GHDM-Africa), Ghana 

• Mariam Fofana, post-doctoral associate, Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Disease, Yale School of Public Health, USA 

• Adolfo Rubinstein, director, Center for Implementation and Innovation in Health Policies, Instituto de efectividad clínica y sanitaria (IECS), Argentina 

• Sharmila Mhatre, deputy director, Public Health Program, Open Society Foundations, USA 

You may also wish to attend the following session presented by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Equity Science from theory to practice: how to (and how not to) authentically partner for more equitable global health research 

Wednesday, November 24, 1:00 p.m. (EST) to 2:30 p.m. (EST), Richelieu Room 

This session will feature a discussion on how authentic partnerships require more than just a common goal. It will also address the fact that meaningful engagement is required to address racism and other forms of discrimination and decolonize local and global health research. This session will discuss how (and how not) to apply the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR) principles for global health research. 

Panellists: 

• Katrina Plamondon (moderator), University of British Columbia, Canada 

• Carol Henry, University of Saskatchewan, Canada 

• John Dusabe-Richards, director, Global Health Division, IDRC, Canada 

• Margo Greenwood, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada 

• Gina Agarwal, McMaster University, Canada 

• Queen Dube, chief of Health Services, Ministry of Health, Malawi