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COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research

There was, and possibly still is, potential for COVID-19 to disrupt power inequities and contribute to positive transformation in global health research that increases equity. While there is consensus about the need to decolonise by transforming global health, and a roadmap outlining how we could ap...

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Autores principales: Willows, Tamara Mulenga, Oliwa, Jacquie, Onyango, Onesmus, Mkumbo, Elibariki, Maiba, John, Schell, Carl Otto, Baker, Tim, McKnight, Jacob
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10276961/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37328283
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-011888
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author Willows, Tamara Mulenga
Oliwa, Jacquie
Onyango, Onesmus
Mkumbo, Elibariki
Maiba, John
Schell, Carl Otto
Baker, Tim
McKnight, Jacob
author_facet Willows, Tamara Mulenga
Oliwa, Jacquie
Onyango, Onesmus
Mkumbo, Elibariki
Maiba, John
Schell, Carl Otto
Baker, Tim
McKnight, Jacob
author_sort Willows, Tamara Mulenga
collection PubMed
description There was, and possibly still is, potential for COVID-19 to disrupt power inequities and contribute to positive transformation in global health research that increases equity. While there is consensus about the need to decolonise by transforming global health, and a roadmap outlining how we could approach it, there are few examples of steps that could be taken to transform the mechanics of global health research. This paper contributes lessons learnt from experiences and reflections of our diverse multinational team of researchers involved in a multicountry research project. We demonstrate the positive impact on our research project of making further steps towards improving equity within our research practices. Some of the approaches adopted include redistributing power to researchers from the countries of interest at various stages in their career, by involving the whole team in decisions about the research; meaningfully involving the whole team in research data analysis; and providing opportunities for all researchers from the countries of interest to voice their perspectives as first authors in publications. Although this approach is consistent with how research guidance suggests research should be run, in reality it does not often happen in this way. The authors of this paper hope that by sharing our experience, we can contribute towards discussions about the processes required to continue developing a global health sector that is equitable and inclusive.
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spelling pubmed-102769612023-06-19 COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research Willows, Tamara Mulenga Oliwa, Jacquie Onyango, Onesmus Mkumbo, Elibariki Maiba, John Schell, Carl Otto Baker, Tim McKnight, Jacob BMJ Glob Health Practice There was, and possibly still is, potential for COVID-19 to disrupt power inequities and contribute to positive transformation in global health research that increases equity. While there is consensus about the need to decolonise by transforming global health, and a roadmap outlining how we could approach it, there are few examples of steps that could be taken to transform the mechanics of global health research. This paper contributes lessons learnt from experiences and reflections of our diverse multinational team of researchers involved in a multicountry research project. We demonstrate the positive impact on our research project of making further steps towards improving equity within our research practices. Some of the approaches adopted include redistributing power to researchers from the countries of interest at various stages in their career, by involving the whole team in decisions about the research; meaningfully involving the whole team in research data analysis; and providing opportunities for all researchers from the countries of interest to voice their perspectives as first authors in publications. Although this approach is consistent with how research guidance suggests research should be run, in reality it does not often happen in this way. The authors of this paper hope that by sharing our experience, we can contribute towards discussions about the processes required to continue developing a global health sector that is equitable and inclusive. BMJ Publishing Group 2023-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC10276961/ /pubmed/37328283 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-011888 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Practice
Willows, Tamara Mulenga
Oliwa, Jacquie
Onyango, Onesmus
Mkumbo, Elibariki
Maiba, John
Schell, Carl Otto
Baker, Tim
McKnight, Jacob
COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research
title COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research
title_full COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research
title_fullStr COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research
title_short COVID-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research
title_sort covid-19 and unintended steps towards further equity in global health research
topic Practice
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10276961/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37328283
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-011888
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