2024 Annual Report

Major Achievements

• We engaged the Open House Initiative, a collective of healers dedicated to providing spaces for diverse healing practices, to guide our EqualHealth and CAR teams through reflection and restoration in light of internal conflicts influenced by global and regional political climates. The process successfully supported us in aligning our organizational values, rebuilding trust, and strengthening our capacity to navigate future conflicts—ushering in a newfound commitment to growth and equity.

• Program Manager Tinashe Goronga was selected as 1 of 34 commissioners for the Lancet Global Health Commission on People-Centered Care for Universal Health Coverage. This esteemed group includes multidisciplinary experts from around the world representing people with lived experiences, health care providers, policymakers, academic researchers, civil society organizers, and private sector leaders. The Commission aims to address gaps in evidence-based guidance and identify best practices and novel approaches for enabling people-centered care.

• Founding co-director Michelle Morse was honored on the 2024 TIME100 Next list, for her unwavering commit­ment to equity, partnership with Partners in Health in Haiti and Rwanda, and advancements as New York City’s first chief medical officer.

Campaign Against Racism (CAR)

• The CAR team submitted a report to the United Nations’ CERD (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) on the UK government’s failure to meet requirements on access to health in the context of intellectual property and trade, and the Global South debt crisis. Organizer Peruth Nabirye presented a statement to officials in Geneva.

• Prism, an independent and nonprofit news outlet led by journalists of color, published an article authored by CAR staff on the structural violence affecting Haiti and patient outcomes.

• Members of the CAR organizing team were invited to attend the “Through the Portal” conference, a pivotal gathering of a thousand artists, activists, and scholars that dived into the topics of abolition, economic democracy, climate justice, feminism, racial justice, and the threat of authoritarianism. The symposium transcends the traditional boundaries of both academia and activism, hosting a convergence that connects scholar-activists with community-based and movement-focused intellectuals and artists.

• The CAR Cancel the Debt working group co-organised a webinar titled “False Solutions, Real Harm: IMF-WB’s Assault on Gender Justice.” As part of the Global Week of Action for Debt Cancellation, this webinar marked the 80th anniversary of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) by spotlighting their harmful impact on women and girls in the Global South. The event brought together movements on debt justice, gender justice, and women’s rights  to expose how decades of IMF WB-led structural adjustments, austerity, and market-driven policies have deepened gender inequalities. 

• CAR supported the inaugural AIM workshop hosted by Health Network For Armenia (HENAR) and the Libaridian Family Foundation of Armenia. This shared trends in social medicine, health program design, and diverse and challenging experiences in community medicine, with the goal of developing the knowledge and skills of Armenian thinkers and leaders on social, structural, and non-biomedical determinants of health.

• In September 2024, CAR brought together health workers and community organizers from various contexts internationally, to discuss global strategy of the campaign and center those most impacted by structural inequities—forging global interdependence through antiracism.

• CAR hosted an event with Lancet on current praxis globally to interrupt health inequities February 2024.

Social Medicine Course (SocMed)

• This year, 36 students successfully completed our transnational Social Medicine Courses in Uganda and Haiti. These locally-led and locally-grounded courses were facilitated by teaching teams composed of SocMed alumni. The course used “Transnational Saturday” sessions to bridge co-learning spaces across both countries’ sites. Student participants included:

• 60% women and 40% men,

• 56% individuals from poor or working-class families in Haiti and Uganda, and 44% from middle- or upper-class families,

• Learners primarily between the ages of 20-29, with a few ages 30-34 and 35-39,

• 90% health professional students, with their primary field being medicine (50%), followed by nursing (13%) and public health (13%), then midwifery, medical biology, psychology, and pharmacy.

• Testimonial from Uganda course learner: “The transnational sessions were great. I appreciate that they helped us interact and appreciate the differences and similarities between our countries even more, giving us a more enforced desire to make global change.”

• SocMed students reported increases in critical consciousness following the course, particularly in Collective Agency measures: Diemer, M. A., Rapa, L. J., Park, C. J., & Perry, J. C. (2017). Development and Validation of the Critical Consciousness Scale. Youth & Society, 49(4), 461-483. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X14538289 (Original work published 2017)

•  The transnational teaching team organized a two-day capacity-building session that brought together twelve faculty members from our three locations: Haiti, Minnesota, and Uganda. These sessions provided a valuable opportunity for reflection on the current dynamics of the world and discussed how we should continue adapting our course content. Participants shared pedagogical strategies across sites and identified pathways for enhancing the quality and impact of our courses. The training focused on three key areas:

  • Narrative Medicine: Incorporating Story and Writing as Pedagogy, which aimed to define narrative medicine, explore its potential uses, and equip participants to develop and implement related workshops in social medicine courses; 

  • Gender and Sexuality Through an Intersectional, Cross-Cultural Lens, focusing on the importance of teaching these topics, encouraging personal reflection, and building confidence in facilitating safe and inclusive discussions; and 

  • Global Solidarity: What Does It Mean and How Do We Build It, designed to foster dialogue and deepen the team's transnational pedagogical approach to global solidarity in social medicine curricula.

• To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the SocMed Alumni Association has undergone a restructuring. This has led to several significant changes:

  • A new leadership model has been adopted. Previously functioning with an executive committee, the association has now launched a Board of Directors to support the executive committee. This board is composed of alumni who were previously involved in the executive committee, bringing with them the history and foundational values of the organization.

  • The association has adapted to the growing context of over 50 members who have transitioned from being alumni of the social medicine course to becoming graduated health professionals and leaders.

  • A more proactive approach has been introduced, targeting the structural forces of oppression and the social determinants of health. This strategy is more aligned with the current health and social crisis in Haiti.

• The team began exploratory conversations for hosting a social medicine course based in Armenia.

• The SocMed teaching team based in Tennessee attended the Highlander retreat, which resulted in critical reflections on the root causes of illnesses. Through these reflections, the Uganda teaching team perceived the significance of climate change in current systems and decided to incorporate a module on climate change and health as part of the course curriculum.