Humanitarian Representative to Canada @MSF_Canada | Health Systems Researcher | Respiratory Therapist | Runner and Adventurer | Personal account.
Jun 23, 2021 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Thanks to @mattgallowaycbc for speaking with @picardonhealth and me on @TheCurrentCBC about global access to COVID-19 vaccines and how the global COVAX effort is falling short, at a moment when we are seeing a rise in cases in some low- and middle-income countries.
The reality of the global COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is that it's a stark inequity in action:
Canada alone has administered more than 33 million doses
COVAX has delivered 88.8 million doses to 131 countries
Only 0.3% of all COVID vaccines have been given in low-income countries.
Apr 30, 2021 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
Access to oxygen - and the ability of existing oxygen systems to meet demand - has been one of the major global challenges of responding to COVID-19. As a respiratory therapist, this is at the core of my clinical practice, and has worried me for years. Some thoughts:
Oxygen supplies in many health systems are inadequate for meeting daily hospital needs, never mind those created by COVID-19. There are many reasons for this, but probably this is largely because it's a big infrastructure investment and can require significant retrofitting.
Apr 15, 2021 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
My PhD thesis research focused on analyzing disrupted health systems, and I've spent most of the last decade working in humanitarian response. Here's a thread with some thoughts on what's happening in Ontario:
Health systems are not just the delivery of health services, though that's the point at which most of us interact with the health system (receiving health care). To be able to effectively deliver health services, you need a lot of other things to be in place and functioning.
Apr 14, 2021 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
MSF teams care for people living with diabetes in many countries where we work, in Lebanon, Iraq, South Sudan, DRC, and others. Many projects are set-up to respond to patients presenting with ketoacidosis, due to a lack of insulin treatment - and insulin access.
The way in which the big 3 insulin makers monopolize the insulin market is unbelievable, really. It's a racket. They've raised their prices in lockstep with each other for years, to the point that people are dying because they can't afford them anymore. nytimes.com/2016/02/21/opi…
