Decolonization, Localization & DEIA: A Thought Piece and Collaboration between Global South & North
Over the last year, four institutions based in the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa have collaborated on a unique project to explore global health through the lens of decolonization, localization, diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Convened by the Durham-based global health organization FHI 360, this Global South-North collaboration has produced a white paper that offers important lessons about true transparency and equity in global health partnership.
Dr. Allysha C. Maragh-Bass, a scientist with FHI 360 and an adjunct professor at DGHI, will lead a panel discussion about key findings from the project. She will be joined by U.S. and global researchers to explore how the partnership formed and what they have learned about applying decolonization and localization in a real-world context.
About the speakers
Dr. Allysha C. Maragh-Bass is an Adjunct Professor at DGHI. She is also a Scientist II in the Behavioral, Epidemiological, and Clinical Sciences (BECS) Division at FHI 360. Dr. Maragh-Bass is a Social/Behavioral Scientist and former Domestic Scholar with the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN). She has also supported health programs funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Dr. Maragh-Bass has experience in HIV/AIDS, substance use, qualitative, and quantitative methods in domestic clinical and community-based research. Dr. Maragh-Bass has worked in health care settings from primary care to surgery and across the minority health spectrum. With grounding in social determinants, her interest is in addressing health inequities with multidisciplinary, evidence-based approaches.
Dr. Rhoda Wanyenze, MBChB, MPH, PhD, is a Professor and Dean of Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH). She has vast experience in infectious diseases research, capacity building and program management, especially in HIV and TB and has also conducted several studies in maternal and child health. Prior to joining MakSPH, Dr. Wanyenze was the Program Manager for the Makerere University Joint AIDS Program. Dr. Wanyenze is very active in public health policy leadership in Uganda and globally, she has served on various technical committees of the MoH and other agencies, and boards of several organizations in Uganda and globally. Dr. Wanyenze is also a lead authors on the white paper focused on actualizing localization, decolonization and DEI in the USAID-funded Research for Scalable Solutions partnership with FHI 360.
Amandari Kanagaratnam is a recent MPH graduate of George Washington University. She has experience working in reproductive health both in the US and abroad and is interested in sustainable, community-based approaches to global health. She has worked on research projects on nutrition, migrant health, and reproductive health in Ecuador and India. In between undergraduate and graduate school, she worked as a research coordinator on a study on contraceptive use before transitioning to a job as an Epic analyst at a federally qualified health center where she designed, implemented, and tested software for the electronic medical record. As part of her practicum project during her MPH, Amandari contributed to a white paper on the decolonization of global health. Her master’s thesis was a quantitative research project examining racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to long-acting reversible contraceptives.