Towards a Just Future in Global Health

This year, the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development will celebrate its 15th year of founding. This year also marks the 10th year of remembrance since the tragic loss of our founder, Prof. Joep Lange, and his partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren.

With such a momentous year at hand, we asked ourselves how to best mark these occasions and to strike a thoughtful balance between remembering our founder and positioning ourselves forward for the future. What began 15 years ago at AIGHD was much larger than the organization itself. It was a movement bringing together different scientific fields such as medicine, economics, law, and the social sciences for the purpose of creating positive and long-lasting health impacts across global communities. This remains at the core of our mission here at the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development.

However, so much has changed since 2009. The past 15 years have shown us that while much has already been done in the field of Global Health, there is still much more that needs to be done in order for us to achieve a more equitable world. With epidemics like Ebola and pandemics like COVID-19, radical shifts in how we consume media and information, the dilution of the potency of scientific knowledge, and global health seemingly becoming less of a priority to leaders and policymakers, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to global health equity and evidence-based activism as championed by Prof. Joep Lange himself.

Unprecedented challenges and opportunities have arisen in the field of Global Health. Our theme for 2024, “Towards a Just Future in Global Health”, is a response to these challenges and highlights our commitment to equity, inclusivity, and sustainability in healthcare across the globe. We believe this theme succinctly describes our position as an organization as defined by the legacy of our late founder and our collective mission for the future at the organization. We invite you to take part in our events for the year, most especially this year’s Joep Lange Chair and Fellows Symposium and Masterclass which will be held in the last quarter of 2024 and will be using the same theme as stated earlier.

Lastly, the theme is part of our larger strategic shift as part of our response to the aforementioned challenges and opportunities. Last year alone, we garnered two major projects focused on Digital Health and Genomic Surveillance (a.k.a. EpiGen Ethiopia) as well as climate change and water borne diarrhoeal disease (a.k.a SPRINGS). These projects are at the forefront of their work and today, represents our goal of producing even higher quality research and innovation to be used by policymakers, project implementors, and the global/public health sector at large.

Join us as we forge a path together Towards a Just Future in Global Health!

Follow us on LinkedIn to keep yourselves updated on the latest events of 2024.