Utibe Effiong

After working as an internist in southern Nigeria, Effiong was inspired to look at the broader determinants of health and healthcare in the developing world. Nigeria’s booming oil industry accounts for more than 90 percent of the country’s earnings, but is also increasingly harmful to public health due to a series of environmental and occupational …

Meet the Fellow

New WHO Leader Could Improve Global Health Security By Turning WHO Upside Down

A month ago I downloaded all the CVs and applications of the three shortlisted candidates for the new WHO director general. I immediately noted that Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was the only one who directly called out the need to bolster the frail health frontlines of many poor countries. As an infectious disease epidemiologist who …

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New WHO Leader Could Improve Global Health Security By Turning WHO Upside Down

A month ago I downloaded all the CVs and applications of the three shortlisted candidates for the new WHO director general. I immediately noted that Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was the only one who directly called out the need to bolster the frail health frontlines of many poor countries. As an infectious disease epidemiologist who …

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Africa needs to join forces again to secure a lower cost vaccine

Meningitis is an infectious and life-threatening bacterial disease that infects and inflames the brain and spinal cord. It’s a disease that the world has been able to prevent through vaccines for more than a decade – yet thousands of people are still dying from it in Africa. This year alone 750 people have died and …

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How to Prevent the Next Health Crisis

The Ebola epidemic sweeping through West Africa is causing understandable panic in local communities and international concern about the future spread of this killer virus. Yet there’s another disease which has been more deadly this year. One that nearly cost me my medical career, and which – unlike Ebola – can be easily prevented. "This …

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