Dr Balogun addresses students on tackling inequalities in global health

On the 25th of October 2023, Dr Israel Adekunle Balogun, a UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care PhD student and Commonwealth Scholar, spoke to students of the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Israel is a medical doctor with a disability who recently won the British Council Global Social Impact Award 2022 for those who studied in the UK. The students he addressed are all medical doctors from around 20 countries.

He spoke extensively on the need to mainstream disability and gender inclusion across various interventions and in clinical work. He also shared the transformative impact of working and collaborating with persons with disabilities in development and humanitarian settings across Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Iraq.  

In addition, Israel explored the Power Imbalance in Global Health that tends to relegate the voices, choices and innovation of the affected population. This cuts across many areas including race, patriarchy, foreign gaze, privileges and power, white supremacy and saviourism. He proposed ways to address these inequalities and encouraged the students to learn about the various models of disabilities. 

Feedback from the students was encouraging. Clare Warrell, 2023 Course Lead LSHMT Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, said: “Thank you so much for your presentation today, it was absolutely amazing. You spoke so well, and so passionately, it was a really brilliant talk. I really appreciate your time and thought that went into the presentation.” 

Links

• UCL Centre for Humanitarianism and Social Inclusion

• UCL Centre for Humanitarianism and Social Inclusion Postgraduate Taught Studies