Decolonising Global Health: A conversation with Dr Seye Abimbola
About the event
From 18 January to 8 February, ITM will host Dr Seye Abimbola, ITM alumnus (2011) and Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney. Dr Abimbola worked as Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Global Health and has published extensively on decolonisation. He also has a long track record of supporting institutions as they navigate decolonisation processes.
As part of his visit, this public event will explore key questions in the ongoing conversation about decolonising global health. His presentation will address six themes (see below).
This event will provide attendees with an opportunity to critically engage with the dynamics of power, history, and justice in global health, and to reflect on what meaningful change requires within and beyond our institutions.
Registration
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. You can attend in-person or online.
Themes
(1) Why talk about decolonisation in 2025?
Drawing on historical examples such as the coercive tsetse fly campaigns in colonial Central Africa, Dr Abimbola will show how forced and harmful medical interventions still influence health behaviours today, resulting in lower vaccination rates and higher refusal of examinations. These legacies underline the relevance of the statement: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” What does it mean to decolonise global health?
An exploration of what it means to undo colonisation and supremacy.
(2) Is “global health” an oxymoron?
A reflection on how the framing of “global health” has evolved from “public health somewhere else” and will continue to change.
(3) Answering common critiques and questions
Responses to frequently asked questions such as: “Why not focus on the good? Why don’t you just give us a to do list? Do you want to return to the past?”
(4) Is decolonisation a final or temporary stop?
An examination of the complexity of the term and how decolonisation can be both too broad and too narrow for the issues in global health.
(5) What should we do next?
Practical reflections on what action looks like at both the individual and organisational levels.
(6) And who exactly needs to act?
A discussion of the multiple axes along which coloniality operates multilateral institutions, high income-low-income country relations, indigenous-settler dynamics, philanthropy and global knowledge infrastructure.
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