Connecting for innovation and equity in global health

On Thursday, January 25, the Bay Area Global Health Alliance joined Alliance member Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign in co-hosting Dr. Matthew Harris, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Public Health Medicine and Honorary National Health Service Consultant in Public Health Medicine at Imperial College London, to discuss his newly released book, Decolonizing Healthcare Innovation: Low-Cost Solutions from Low-Income Countries.

You may access the recording through this link.

Dr. Raj Panjabi, a prominent physician, entrepreneur, and former White House official, shared his rich experiences and insights with the global health community at a fireside chat hosted by the Bay Area Global Health Alliance at Accenture’s San Francisco office on January 10. The chat and reception immediately followed the Alliance’s rich panel on healthcare in emerging markets held at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. 

Please click here to view the talk.

On Wednesday, January 10, the Bay Area Global Health Alliance hosted a panel discussion, Reimagining Healthcare in Emerging Markets: The Future of Healthcare Innovation and Investment at the renowned J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. 

You may access the panel discussion recording through this link.

Mark your calendars! The Bay Area Global Health Alliance is hosting a panel discussion, Reimagining Healthcare in Emerging Markets: The Future of Healthcare Innovation and Investment, at the renowned J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, January 10 from 5:15-6:00 PM in San Francisco. 

As 2023 comes to a close, we reflect on what the Bay Area Global Health Alliance has accomplished, how we have shifted to meet the moments and our members’ needs, and where we need to go to advance global health equity and innovation. 

Our theory of change is based on the assumption that collaboration across multiple sectors, geographies, and areas of expertise is necessary to solve today’s complex global health challenges. We believe in the catalytic power of shared knowledge and multi-sector cooperation and that, together, we can shift what is possible and achieve better and more sustainable health outcomes for all. 

On Monday, October 30, 2023, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi received the first-ever Bay Area Global Health Alliance Leadership Award for her unwavering HIV/AIDS response leadership and contributions to advancing global health and equity throughout her career. 

Too often, promising health interventions do not reach the world’s most vulnerable or are not effectively adapted to community needs and constraints. This often results in critical needs remaining unmet and growing health inequity, despite significant investment seeking to address these issues. On Thursday, October 26, 2023, the Bay Area Global Health Alliance’s Insights to Action: Ideation on Implementation for Equity event explored practical solutions to close the gap between what we know and what we do, using the lens of implementation science to advance health equity. 

Last week Sara Anderson, Executive Director of the Alliance, was honored to be part of the White House Roundtable on AI and Health. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy convened a distinguished group of leaders from across sectors to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) can be safely deployed to improve health outcomes, with a special breakout session on the use of AI to improve public health and global health. To prepare for the meeting, the Alliance sought input from our multi-sector members and key stakeholders on what three-four points they would make if they were at the table. At the OSTP listening session and roundtable, there was substantial alignment and echoes of our members’ priorities on many of the risks and opportunities before us at this pivotal moment.

Learn more.

For the first time, the UN General Assembly will convene three High-Level Meetings on ending tuberculosis (TB), delivering universal health coverage (UHC) and strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response during its 78th session (UNGA 78) in New York in September 2023. To elevate and advocate for global health, the Bay Area Global Health Alliance will be attending UNGA 78, along with Alliance members, Accenture, Baraka Impact Finance, Cepheid, Chevron, Connective Impact, Cross-Border Impact Ventures, Fistula Foundation, Friends of the Global Fight, GAIA Global Health, GBCHealth, Global Health Corps, Global Health Council, Global Health Technologies Coalition, Merck, Meta, Nivi, PATH, Roche Diagnostics, Seed Global Health, Simprints, Watsi, and others. 

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The Alliance is pleased to welcome two new members to our Board of Directors. Jeremy Alberga is the program development and strategy director with UCSF's Institute for Global Health Sciences. Natasha Sunderji is the global health and nutrition lead for Accenture’s social impact practice, Accenture Development Partnerships. She also co-leads Accenture's Health Equity Center of Excellence.

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"On behalf of the Alliance's Board of Directors, it has been a true honor to serve with Jaime. We are deeply grateful to him, not just for his great achievements in global health and his support for the Alliance from its initial conception, but also for the support and mentorship he has provided so many, myself included," said Colin Boyle, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and chair of the Alliance Board of Directors. UCSF Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics Jaime Sepúlveda is stepping down from his post as executive director of UCSF's Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS), which he has led for the last 12 years. He is also moving on from his leadership on the Alliance Board of Directors, but he will continue as an IGHS faculty member.

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Join the Alliance, PSI, PATH, UNICEF, Google and other members at the second annual Africa Health Tech Summit in Kigali, October 17-19. Organized in partnership with the Africa CDC and SmartAfrica, the conference will explore how digital health can transform healthcare delivery across Africa. The Alliance was honored to have Africa CDC's Chief Digital Health Adviser Jean Philbert Nsengimana give the keynote address at the Alliance's Annual Meeting in June. 

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Mark your calendars! On October 26, the Alliance will host a roundtable discussion on implementation science and health equity. The multi-sectoral discussion will focus on identifying the barriers and the solutions that will improve the implementation pathway for health interventions and, thus, improve health equity. Look for more information in our September newsletter.

Learn more.

"When you talk about the last mile, we are truly at the very last mile. As a rural hospital in Zimbabwe, we don’t often get the chance to interact with global health organizations to identify ways we can partner, share learnings, and deepen our impact. Being a member of the Bay Area Global Health Alliance has enabled us to connect with leaders in global health and share our work in a way we haven’t before." – Major Mereki, Head, Chidamoyo Christian Hospital. Spring outreach resulted in new partnerships with Alliance members MedShare and Fistula Foundation for the rural hospital to improve the delivery of maternal healthcare to Chidamoyo’s rural, last-mile patients.

Learn more.