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fifarahman.bsky.social
PhD and global health wonk. Principal Consultant, http://matahari.global. Internationalist & humanist. 🇲🇾🇵🇸 🌍
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Global health colleagues - we are looking for small project opportunities for our local partner in South Sudan, who unfortunately has been defunded due to USAID cuts. They are a grassroots org working on HIV, general diagnostics literacy, & refugee support. đź“© me if there are any opportunities.

A starting line up of global health folks who work across law, policy and ethics. There are many others to add - please share widely and suggest additions! go.bsky.app/Qj9GcA1

In a couple of weeks, I am supposed to be at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, talking about how we prevent future pandemics. This administration is dismantling the frontline and upstream expertise that will keep pathogens of pandemic potential at bay.

I am supposed to be on a plane to the U.S. in a couple of weeks to speak about preventing pandemics and not entirely sure it would be safe to fly anywhere near the United States or near American planes.

🗑️🗑️🗑️🗑️

www.politico.com/news/2025/02... As the U.S. fires regulatory staff who examine the quality and safety of medical devices - there needs to be increased emphasis in the global south to develop more regulatory expertise.

Don’t just say DEI as if it’s a bad word. Spell it out. Say diversity, which is the lifeblood of American society & culture & innovation. Say equity, which a just society should pursue. Say inclusion, because decent people believe in increasing belonging, not isolating people who are different.

📽️ ⚧️ Have you seen the brilliant new video from @matahariglobal.bsky.social about accountability on gender in public health emergencies? Check it out now - genderandcovid-19.org/editorial/ac... @fifarahman.bsky.social @juliasmith.bsky.social

I am grateful that health departments at the state level continue to do important work reporting on the H5N1 outbreak. But without the collated info from the CDC we do not have a country wide updates to give us a global view of the outbreak in the U.S. www.wkyc.com/article/news...

Just in case you thought that removing DEI criteria would mean that everyone is competing equally: NIH is removing grad students from underrepresented backgrounds from the applicant pool altogether. Their applications will not be considered. Other students, not from these backgrounds, will be.

“Ultimately, governments in the global south must come to the realization that the prosperity of their people lies not in the hands of the US White House, but in their own agency, development and self-reliance” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New: We are suing Trump to reverse the foreign aid freeze, on behalf of AVAC @hivpxresearch.bsky.social and the Journalism Development Network. Act up, fight back. www.citizen.org/news/nonprof...

Palestinian families in Egypt already have no right to return. They tell me there is an international force guarding the Rafah border led by Israelis. Why are they allowed to dictate who comes back into Palestine? Why do white people think they can control where brown people go?

Prioritizing advancements in science is paramount to current global health challenges. We created on of the most advanced global genomics & epidemic response programs. We will keep focusing on saving lives. Next posts, I highlight some of our recent work making a difference.

Proud to be Malaysian.

Friends, if you and your patients have been affected by the US government actions this week and you want to tell your/their story, please consider contracting Steven @thrasherxy.bsky.social. He’s an amazing journalist and cares deeply about us. @madhupai.bsky.social @francoisventer.bsky.social

Censored and frozen CDC can’t help with new Ebola outbreak Isolationism that hurts people while weakening US relevance on the global stage open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

Countries are not receiving the communication from USAID of the waiver on financing for lifesaving medication. This must occur instantly so countries can release necessary medication.

Friend after friend are losing their jobs due to the Trump EO on foreign aid. Virologists, public health specialists, HIV programme officers. This is a catastrophe. But we must also realise the implications of our field being so reliant on an increasingly fascist nation.

Maniacal

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at an event on microbial threats at the National Academy of Sciences in DC. I can’t seem to get the words of Paul Friedrichs, Biden’s Pandemic Preparedness czar, out of my head: that there are “bad people” out there to get us.

Appalling and horrifying - but I hope countries are making serious and long term plans for reducing reliance on the United States and other right-leaning countries. Investments in domestic private enterprise and universal health care will get us there as the global majority.

“Global health consultant Fifa Rahman told POLITICO the budget cuts were a “massive own goal for an increasingly isolated United States” and leave it more vulnerable to future outbreaks. www.politico.eu/article/who-...

Israel has opened fire towards displaced people waiting to go back to their homes in the north. The United States has created an absolute monster - who has zero respect for the terms of the ceasefire.

Great to meet and speak to so many amazing scientists and researchers working on pandemic threats at the @nationalacademies.org Forum of Microbial Threats last week in DC, including the amazing @peterdaszak.bsky.social, and my friend Dan Bausch.

Via @barrons.com: The White House’s decision to leave @who.int will deprive them 1/5 of their funding and remove US experts from current efforts. "There is no replacement for what the WHO does," says @jennifernuzzo.bsky.social, calling the move "deeply troubling". Read more here ⤵️

“It wasn’t a Nazi salute” “There is no genocide in Gaza” These are the same people. Disavow them.

I hope other G7 and G20 countries will step up and fill the massive funding and leadership gap that the U.S. will leave, if it withdraws from @who.int www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

stand by @WHO. Always. From critical surveillance to coordination on major emergencies across the world - without WHO, major care and treatment would be neglected completely and utterly in those areas.

In 2015, the U.S. embassy in Malaysia contacted me, inviting me to a three week trip in the U.S. on the International Visitor Leadership Programme.

950 healthcare workers killed by Israel. This is the new standard for massacres of health workers - for any white-predominant population. The prospects of this is horrifying.

Celebrating together with all my Palestinian friends on the start of the ceasefire, but cautious that you can’t trust Israel - hoping for the ability for Palestinians to rebuild their country and for a sovereign and safe state.

🧵 WHO informed its Member States and International Health Regulation State Parties of an outbreak of suspected Marburg Virus Disease in the Kagera region of #Tanzania So far, we are aware of 9 suspected cases incl. 8 deaths across 2 districts. 1/2

Sharing this excerpt in @statnews.com from my @nytimes.com best seller LEGACY: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism🩺 entitled, “The emergency room is where the United States’ social problems come home to roost” Link: www.statnews.com/2024/01/30/u... LEGACY: ucheblackstock.com