Until We Are All Equal: Imagining Equal Power

Despite significant progress in addressing some areas of health inequality, global disparities persist, accompanied by increasing setbacks in human rights protections worldwide. In light of these challenges, we are framing our 5th anniversary event series under the theme "Until We Are All Equal." The series includes three virtual events, addressing power, partnerships and rights with a culminating in-person event hosted on the USC campus in December 2024, all intended to spur our work together and help us to build momentum for the next chapter.

As we kick off our 5th anniversary event series, we invite you to join us for the first of these events as we analyze past and current global health power dynamics, promising models, and imagine new formulations committed to more equitable global health governance and practice. This first event “Until We Are All Equal: Imagining Equal Power” will take place on Wednesday, September 4, at 9:00 am PDT/12:00 pm EDT/6:00 pm CEST.

All would agree centering equal power relations in global health means reshaping global governance structures so that decision making is not driven exclusively by those state and non-state actors with the most power and wealth. A key tenet of global health is solidarity – across international organizations, healthcare institutions, communities, research and policy initiatives, and geographies – which requires addressing inequitable power structures and promoting justice and sustainable partnerships in all efforts to advance good health outcomes. At the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, we are committed to advancing a collective understanding of the impacts of unequal power dynamics on global health financing, policy, and outcomes, and seeking solutions and new models that can provide a foundation for coordinated and joint global health efforts. This one-hour virtual event will foreground the theories and practical implications of unequal power in the sphere of global health. We will discuss how, as academics, students, researchers, healthcare providers, advocates, and policymakers, we can recognize and disrupt power structures in order to bring equity to the forefront of actions impacting health and wellbeing.

Panelists for the discussion are noted below:

1. Loyce Pace, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs (OGA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
2. Rajat Khosla, Executive Director, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health
3. Solange Baptiste, Executive Director, ITPC Global

The conversation will begin with an introduction from IIGH Director Sofia Gruskin and will be moderated by IIGH Director of Policy Engagement Jonathan Cohen.

The webinar is hosted by the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health.

Please join us on Wednesday, September 4, at 9:00 am PDT/12:00 pm EDT/6:00 pm CEST.

PMNCH Executive Director, Rajat Khosla will be speaking at the event.