Who Gets to Shape Global Health?

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Reflections on Decolonizing Research and Reclaiming African Voices

By Florence Shedrack

On 15 July 2026, I had the opportunity to represent Shades of Us at the webinar titled Decolonizing Global Health: Practitioner Perceptions and Pathways for Practice, facilitated by Dr. Anthony Francis Mveyange, a development economist and Director of Programs for Synergy at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). The session challenged long-held assumptions about power, partnership, and knowledge production in global health. More importantly, it challenged me to rethink what equitable collaboration should truly look like. 

Decolonizing Global Health

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By Victor Jacob

 

Whenever conversations about global health come up, they usually centre around disease outbreaks, vaccines, medical research, or improving access to healthcare. For the longest time, that was exactly how I thought about it too. To me, global health was simply about finding better ways to keep people healthy. Sometimes, however, all we need is a little more education to broaden our perspective.