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Global Health Connections
December 2021

Thank you all for your contributions to advance global health innovation and equity, especially as we continue to navigate the pandemic. The Bay Area Global Health Alliance (BAGHA) continues to believe that more is possible if we work together—and we have seen that in action this year. With your participation and leadership, the Alliance has built partnerships and accomplished our strategic goals. Here are a few:

Grew our membership to 62 members
Developed strategic partnerships with the WHO Tech Task Force, Trinity Challenge, Alliance for Advancing Health Online, CUGH, Devex and others.
Hosted 23 online conversations and webinars—many convened jointly with our members.
Created mechanisms, systems, and structures to help our members share capacity and resources.

We are incredibly grateful for our members; you have helped us evolve the concept of a global health alliance for the region into a practical reality. We are thankful to be working together to help harness the region's collective expertise to accelerate and scale impact in global health. For a more in-depth look at our 2021 accomplishments, read our Year in Review here.

With appreciation and gratitude,
Sara Anderson, Executive Director, Bay Area Global Health Alliance

UC Davis and UCSF Lead Effort for Global Vaccine Equity

UC Davis' Michael Wilkes and Monica Gandhi of UCSF formed White Coats for Global COVID Equity, a collective of health care providers, researchers, and students, to advocate for the implementation of six essential steps to ensure global COVID vaccine and treatment equity. Learn more about their advocacy on this first anniversary of the COVID vaccine's introduction here.

Merck Announces $150M Investment to Help End Maternal Mortality Inequities

Merck recently announced an additional $150 million commitment through Merck for Mothers to further advance the initiative's mission of helping create a world where no woman has to die giving life. To date, programs supported by Merck for Mothers promoting safe, high-quality, respectful care have reached 13.1 million women. The new commitment aims to support programs that deliver essential maternal and reproductive health services to reach 25 million women by 2025. Read more.

Gavi Decides to Fund the Rollout of World's First Malaria Vaccine, PATH Welcomes Commitment

"This commitment will make it possible for low- and middle-income countries in the region that face the greatest malaria burden to consider adding the RTS,S vaccine to their immunization programs as an additional tool to combat malaria," said Nanthalile Mugala, PATH's chief of the Africa region. The Gavi board decision comes less than two months after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the broad use of the vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions that experience significant levels of malaria transmission. Read more here and here.

Alliance Academic Members Race to Learn More About Omicron

Researchers from Stanford University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC San Francisco are leading Bay Area efforts to learn more about the Omicron variant of COVID-19. They are joining other top research institutions across the country in a national effort to better understand the impact the new variant will have on public health efforts in the US and around the world. Read more here.

WHO Tech Task Force: Partnering Public Health Messaging with the Power of Tech

"When we combine health information based on science and evidence with the power and reach of the tech industry, we have the ability to ensure everyone—from those living on small island nations to major cosmopolitan cities—has the information they need to make healthy and safe decisions," said Andy Pattison, World Health Organization's digital solutions lead, in a recent Devex Q&A about the role of social media in global health. "We need tech companies to embrace this opportunity to solve some of the biggest health crises the planet is facing, from pandemic preparedness to climate change." Read the Q&A here.

This month, the Bay Area Global Health Alliance became the new Secretariat for the WHO Tech Task Force, which Pattison leads. The new role aligns well with BAGHA's priority of engaging the tech sector to help advance global health innovation and equity. The Tech Task Force is a collaboration of 30–40 tech companies that is tackling misinformation, raising the quality of content, and developing new digital channels.

"If there's one thing that we can learn from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that communications can no longer be the ugly stepchild ... Access to public health information is a social determinant of health."

–Estelle Willie, The Rockefeller Foundation at the Global Digital Health Forum. BAGHA organized the GDHF panel with Sabin Vaccine Institute, partners in the Alliance for Advancing Health Online. Learn more about the session here.

Welcome to Soul Machines and Viamo

The Alliance extends a warm welcome to our newest Alliance members Soul Machines and Viamo. These innovative partners leverage technology to achieve better health outcomes.

As a world leader in artificial general intelligence (AGI), Soul Machines creates lifelike dynamically interactive experiences. They collaborated with the World Health Organization to create Florence, WHO’s digital health worker, sharing public health messages on tobacco and COVID-19. Another one of Soul Machines "Digital People" is Pahola, the first AI alcohol health specialist, created in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization. Pahola can interact with and help those interested in assessing their risk with respect to their alcohol consumption. Read more about Pahola here.

Viamo aims to improve lives via mobile technology by reaching the most isolated populations. Using mobile tech's voice functions for those without access to digital technology, including smartphones, or those with limited literacy, Viamo provides access to information that helps the hardest-to-reach populations make informed decisions for their lives. The same technology allows them to cultivate meaningful relationships with their governments, civil society, and businesses. Learn more about how this works in practice and Viamo's 321 Platform in Nepal—developed in partnership with IDEO.org's Amplify program—here.

A Shot in the Arm Features AIDS Activists

In honor of World AIDS Day on December 1, we want to thank all our members who contribute to advancing research and treatment for those living with HIV, including Chevron, Gilead, and Friends of the Global Fight. A Shot in the Arm podcast host Ben Plumley has released two new podcasts featuring interviews with AIDS activists: UNAID's first openly HIV+ staffer Martina Clark and activist and founder of Hi-NRG Hazell Dean. Listen or watch here.

Members in the media

Pfizer's COVID Pill Protects Against Severe Disease, even Omicron [New York Times]
Friends of the Global Fight: Build on HIV Investments for Future Pandemic Preparedness [BMJ]
Merck: FDA Panel Supports COVID Drug [NPR]
Stanford: When Will the Pandemic End? Experts Share Concern about Future Variants, Vaccine Access [Today]
Google Can Now Help You Find Places That Accept Your Health Insurance [USA Today]
UC Berkeley I UCSF: She Built a Model Overnight That Would Guide SF's Pandemic Response. Now, She Predicts Our COVID Future [SF Chronicle]
UNICEF: Longtime Biden Aide Appointed to Lead [Devex]
Ipas: How These Moms Are Raising Their Kids to Be Abortion Advocates [Today]
Gilead Sciences Collaborates to Support Elimination of Hepatitis by 2030 [Yahoo! Finance]
Vir Biotechnology's CEO Says Its Treatment 'Stands up Well' to All Variants [CNBC]
Pfizer Research Head Envisions a Sprint to Develop Omicron Vaccine, if It's Needed [STAT]
UC Davis: How Fish Skin Grafts Save Animals Burned in California Wildfires [Vice]
Stanford Op-Ed: The US Gives Billions to Big Pharma, but We Need More Nonprofit Drug Makers [Chicago Tribune]
Pfizer Will Allow Its Covid Pill to Be Made and Sold Cheaply in Poor Countries [New York Times]
Global Health Council: Pandemics Are a Matter of National Security; Congress Should Act Like It, Opinion [The Hill]
Facebook Takes Down China-Based Network Spreading False COVID-19 Claims [NPR]
UC Berkeley: Warning: Don’t Let the Beverage Industry Harm Your Kids [American Journal of Public Health]
Pfizer Outlines Challenges in Localizing Vaccine Manufacturing [Devex]
UNICEF: As India Limits Syringe Exports, a Supply Crunch Has Buyers Looking Elsewhere [New York Times]
Merck I Pfizer: How Will the COVID Pills Change the Pandemic? [New Yorker]
Stanford: When Can the COVID-19 Masks Finally Come Off? [Yahoo!]
Zipline: When Vaccines Drop from Above (In the Spotlight section) [Politico]
Pfizer's Booster Shot Shown to Create Robust Antibody Levels [New York Times]
PATH Opinion: For Climate Resilience, Invest in Water and Sanitation [Devex]
UC Davis: 3 Fully-Vaccinated Tigers at San Diego Zoo Suffered Breakthrough COVID [KCRW]
Zipline: Walmart Is Getting Closer to Delivering Cough Drops 50 Miles Away by Drone [Fortune]
Watch. Gilead: Access to Medicines: Sustainable Delivery Models That Leave No One Behind [Devex]

More member news

A visualization of the Global Fund's work in pandemic preparedness and response (PPR) and areas where it is well-positioned to expand its PPR work with additional resources, from Friends of the Global Fight. Read the full report here.

ICYMI: Connecting Through Emotional Appeals, an Insights Dialogue Live Engagement

On December 9, the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Alliance, partners of Advancing Health Online, convened the second Insights Dialogue live engagement. Communications and global health experts shared their experience developing persuasive social media messaging to address vaccine hesitancy using peer-reviewed literature and extensive online testing for greater behavior change impact. The diverse panel (including a representative from UNICEF) shared their strategies, lessons learned through the testing results, and how to apply these results to improve campaigns. Watch the recording here.

Upcoming events

Songs of the Season, Benefit [PRC, Dec. 14–15]
International Conference on Public Health in Africa [Africa Union I Africa CDC, Dec. 14–16]
Women in Global Health, Seattle Q4 Gathering [Washington Global Health Alliance, Dec. 16]
2022 Stanford Global Health Research Convening [CIGH I Stanford, Jan. 19]
Show of Hope [SF Community Health Center, Jan. 22]
CUGH 2022 [CUGH, Mar. 21–Apr. 1]
Save the Date: 2022 Partner Summit [Americares, May 4]
Save the Date: UC Global Health Day 2022 [UCGHI, May 7]
Participatory Surveillance Conference, Cambodia [Ending Pandemics, Late 2022]

Jobs

Development Associate I Global Fund for Women
Global Health Research Coordinator I Stanford
Coordinator, Public Programs, Labor Occupational Health Program I UC Berkeley, Jan. 14
Health Financing Data Analyst I PHI
Finance & Operations Manager I Women in Global Health
Advisor, Supply Chain I JSI, Dec. 31
Research Senior Manager, Ivory Coast I Muso
Research Senior Manager, Mali I Muso
Rwanda Program Manager I Global Health Corps
Development Associate I Global Health Corps
Head of Research I Hopelab
Associate or Full Professor, Ladder Rank, FT I UCSF, IGHS Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Senior Program Manager for Global Health Education I CIGH, Stanford
Nigeria Program Director I WomenLift Health, Stanford
Postdoc, Infectious Diseases, Environmental & Planetary Health, Global Health & Epidemiology I Stanford
Lecturer Pool, Residential & Online Instruction I UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Feb. 14
Various Openings I AbbVie
Various Openings I CUGH
Various Openings I ETR
Various Openings I IDEO.org
Various Openings I JSI
Various Openings I PATH
Various Openings I Pathfinder
Various Openings I PHI
Various Openings I Seed Global Health
Various Openings I Triangle Global Health
Various Openings I UC Berkeley
Careers in Global Health I UCSF
Various Openings I UNICEF USA
Various Openings I Zenysis
Various Openings I Zipline

Opportunities

Vaccine Acceptance Research Network Call for Papers [Sabin Vaccine Institute, Dec. 15]
CUGH 2022 Satellite Session Submissions [CUGH, Dec. 15]
UC Global Health Day Abstracts [UCGHI, Dec. 19]
2022–23 Global Health Fellowship [Global Health Corps, Jan. 12]
Untold Global Health Stories Contest [CUGH, Jan. 2]
CARE Implementation Science Fellowship 2022 [Stanford, Jan. 5]
Rx One Health Field Institute [UC Davis, Jan. 31]
Global Health Media Fellowship [Stanford, Jan. 31]
Longitude Prize for AMR Innovation [UK Science & Innovation Network, Sep. 30, 2022]
Submit to Notes from the Field [CUGH]
Communications Intern [Friends of the Global Fight]
Policy Internship [Friends of the Global Fight]
IGOT Giving Campaign [UCSF]
Fellowships, Various [PHI]
Fellowships, Various [UCSF]
Fellowships, Various [CDC]
Online Scientific Writing Course [CDC]
JHU Funding Opportunities [Johns Hopkins University]
NIH Global Health Funding [NIH]

Publications

Looking for more peer-reviewed news?

Or peer reviews of COVID-19 research preprints?

UC Berkeley's RR:C19

What we're reading

Investing $1 per Person Could Save 7 Million Lives from Heart Disease, Cancer & Diabetes [Telegraph]
We Have Enough COVID Vaccines for Most of the World. But Rich Countries Are Stockpiling More than They Need for Boosters [STAT]
Health Costs Pushed or Worsened Poverty for over 500M [Reuters]
The State of Global Health Security [Devex Pro]
2021 Global Health Security Index [GHS Index]
World Commits to a Pandemic Response Pact: What's Next [Nature]
A New Global Architecture for Health, Gordon Brown [Project Syndicate]
Tracking Universal Health Coverage: 2021 Global Monitoring Report [WHO]
Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Could Be a New 'Hidden Pandemic,' UK Experts Warn [CNBC]
More Malaria Cases & Deaths in 2020 Linked to COVID-19 Disruptions [WHO]
Biden Lays Out Multi-Pronged Plan to Deal with Evolving Pandemic [The Hill]
Pandemics Thrive on Inequity [Health Policy Watch]
COVID-19 Is Fueling a Pandemic of Violence Against Women & Girls, Opinion [WHO I STAT]
The World Lacks a Global Disease Radar. South Africa Showed How It Could Work. [Washington Post]
Psychiatrists Are Uncovering Surprising Connections Between Viruses & Mental Health [Vox]
The Coronavirus in a Tiny Drop [New York Times]
2021: A Year in Pictures [Médecins Sans Frontières]
Biden Administration Will Invest Billions to Expand Coronavirus Vaccine Manufacturing [Washington Post]
'It's a Sore Spot': Why Officials Are Raising Questions about Biden's Vaccine Donations [Politico]
Harris Announces $1.5B Investment in Health Care Workforce [AP]
Biden Unveils Plan to Hasten 'End' of HIV Epidemic [MedPage Today]
Botswana Is First Country with Severe HIV Epidemic to Eliminate Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission [WHO]
5 Skills Public Health Officials Need to Combat the Next Pandemic [Harvard Business Review]
COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Persons Experiencing Homelessness—Six US Jurisdictions, Dec. 2020–Aug. 2021 [CDC]
In AI Development, Equality Starts with a Mandate for Fairness & Inclusivity, Opinion [STAT]
There Are a Billion Reasons Elon Musk Is Not Going to End World Hunger [The New Humanitarian]
Will Climate Change-Fueled Drought Spur More Yellow Fever Outbreaks? [Devex]
Research Links COVID-19 in Pregnancy with Stillbirths [PBS]
Despite Interventions, Black & Hispanic Men Are Contracting HIV at the Same Rates as 10 Years Ago [STAT]
Why COVID Deaths Have Surpassed AIDS Deaths in the US [Scientific American]
Measles Incidence Is Down, but the Pandemic Has Slowed Vaccination Progress [Washington Post]
COVID-19 Vaccinations Will Become Mandatory in Ghana Soon [Pulse.com]
South African Company Nears License to Sell J & J Covid Shot Across Africa [New York Times]
South Africa 'Punished' for Detecting New Omicron Variant [BBC]
Some Experts Suggest Omicron Variant May Have Evolved in an Animal Host [STAT]
'Just Stupid Stuff': Logistics & Lack of Testing Stymied Finding the Omicron Variant in the US [STAT]
Frustrated by Vaccine Inequity, a South African Lab Rushes to Replicate Moderna's Shot [Washington Post]
Tanzania to Lift Ban on Teenage Mothers Returning to School [Guardian]
Record Floods Linked to Climate Change Have Caused an Increase in Malaria & Left the People of South Sudan in Crisis [Washington Post]
Covishield: India Vaccine Maker Halves Production [BBC]
Don't Apply Here: Why NGO Hiring Practices Are Sparking Protests in South Sudan [The New Humanitarian]

Let us know your news for our next issue and your thoughts on this issue. Please write to communications@bayareaglobalhealth.org. Thanks!

Global Health Connections December 2021