Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Advance Access
    • Archive
    • Supplements
    • Special Collections
    • Topic Collections
  • For Authors
    • Instructions for Authors
    • Tips for Writing About Programs in GHSP
      • Local Voices Webinar
      • Connecting Creators and Users of Knowledge
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Publish a Supplement
    • Promote Your Article
    • Resources for Writing Journal Articles
  • About
    • About GHSP
    • Editorial Team
    • Advisory Board
    • FAQs
    • Instructions for Reviewers

User menu

  • My Alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
Global Health: Science and Practice
  • My Alerts

Global Health: Science and Practice

Dedicated to what works in global health programs

Advanced Search

  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Advance Access
    • Archive
    • Supplements
    • Special Collections
    • Topic Collections
  • For Authors
    • Instructions for Authors
    • Tips for Writing About Programs in GHSP
    • Submit Manuscript
    • Publish a Supplement
    • Promote Your Article
    • Resources for Writing Journal Articles
  • About
    • About GHSP
    • Editorial Team
    • Advisory Board
    • FAQs
    • Instructions for Reviewers
  • Alerts
  • Find GHSP on LinkedIn
  • Visit GHSP on Facebook
  • RSS
VIEWPOINT
Open Access

Self-Reflection as a Starting Point: Observations in Global Health Research

Wouter Bakker, Thomas van den Akker and Jelle Stekelenburg
Global Health: Science and Practice December 2024, 12(6):e2300381; https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-23-00381
Wouter Bakker
aAthena Institute, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
bDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: w_bakker@live.nl
Thomas van den Akker
aAthena Institute, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
bDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jelle Stekelenburg
cDepartment of Health Sciences, Global Health Unit, University Medical Centre Groningen/University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
dDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Leeuwarden Medical Centre, Leeuwarden The Netherlands.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
PreviousNext
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments
  • PDF
Loading

Key Messages

  • Researchers in global health research should continuously reflect on their roles and positions and have a responsibility to address the inequities observed in the research community.

  • We discuss our observations concerning inequity in global health research and our struggles with these inequities.

  • We suggest several ways to address some of the inequities, such as revising the author ranking structure and redistributing resources in global health research.

INTRODUCTION

In 2020, Seye Abimbola pictured a world in which global health will be completely decolonized, with research led by those closest to the largest global problems and academic institutes in the Global South as influential as in the Global North.1 Unfortunately, such a world is still far away. As researchers and physicians with experience in global health research in collaborative settings, we reflect on our work and the current state of collaboration between the global North and South.

We were trained as Physicians Global Health and Tropical Medicine, a post-medical school training in the Netherlands—unique for any high-income setting—that, among other career perspectives, prepares doctors to work as generalists in low-resource settings.2 Trainees are encouraged to reflect on their role and position and engage in clinical evaluations and research, aiming to solve locally emerging questions. Consequently, many combine clinical work and scientific research, sometimes leading to a doctoral degree.3 This practice has led to substantial collaborative research networks, with 2 endowed chairs in the field of safe motherhood and sexual reproductive health and rights in the country.

Within this collaboration, there are ample opportunities for researchers from the Global South to lead or participate in research projects and obtain further education and academic degrees at a Dutch university or elsewhere. However, while such opportunities are increasing, there is still considerable inequity between researchers from Global North and South in terms of …

View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Global Health: Science and Practice: 12 (6)
Global Health: Science and Practice
Vol. 12, No. 6
December 20, 2024
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by Author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about Global Health: Science and Practice.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Self-Reflection as a Starting Point: Observations in Global Health Research
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Global Health: Science and Practice
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the Global Health: Science and Practice web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Self-Reflection as a Starting Point: Observations in Global Health Research
Wouter Bakker, Thomas van den Akker, Jelle Stekelenburg
Global Health: Science and Practice Dec 2024, 12 (6) e2300381; DOI: 10.9745/GHSP-D-23-00381

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Self-Reflection as a Starting Point: Observations in Global Health Research
Wouter Bakker, Thomas van den Akker, Jelle Stekelenburg
Global Health: Science and Practice Dec 2024, 12 (6) e2300381; DOI: 10.9745/GHSP-D-23-00381
del.icio.us logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Jump to section

  • Article
    • INTRODUCTION
    • OBSERVATIONS PERTAINING TO INEQUITY IN GLOBAL HEALTH RESEARCH
    • WAYS FORWARD
    • Acknowledgments
    • Author contributions
    • Competing interests
    • Notes
    • REFERENCES
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Recommendations for Using Health Service Coverage Cascades to Measure Effective Coverage for Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health Services or Interventions
  • Advocating for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Central Asia
Show more VIEWPOINT

Similar Articles

Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Follow Us On

  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • RSS

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Advance Access Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Topic Collections
  • Most Read Articles
  • Supplements

More Information

  • Submit a Paper
  • Instructions for Authors
  • Instructions for Reviewers

About

  • About GHSP
  • Advisory Board
  • FAQs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. ISSN: 2169-575X

Powered by HighWire