A Conversation with Journal Editors from GHSP and BMJ Global Health: Connecting Creators and Users of Knowledge

At the Global Health Science and Practice Technical Exchange conference in April 2021, Seye  Abimbola, Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Global Health, joined GHSP Editor-in-Chief, Steve Hodgins, and GHSP Associate Editor, Rajani Ved, in exploring questions about how global health journals use and promote certain kinds of knowledge. The session was based on a thought-provoking BMJ Global Health editorial that Seye wrote The Uses of Knowledge in Global Health, which presents a framework for the roles that those in public health have in generating and using knowledge: "professors, emancipators, engineers, and plumbers."

  1. How can global health journals be more useful in promoting certain kinds of knowledge? Knowledge from "plumbers" and "emancipators" is currently under-represented in journals, whereas the kinds of knowledge from engineers--those at a high level who are designing systems and policies--or professors, academics who may generalize knowledge to everyone, is highly represented.

  2. How could global health journals better serve "plumbers," and "emancipators," those who are working directly with programs in countries?

  3. How could the role of donors change in global health in generating and using knowledge? 

  4. What will it take for professors to change their role in the global health knowledge ecosystem? 

You can view the recording on the GHTechX website.

 

 

Sẹ̀yẹ Abimbola 
Editor-in-Chief, BMJ Global Health; Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, Australia 
Sẹ̀yẹ Abimbola is a health systems researcher, a global health scholar, and a senior lecturer in global health at the University of Sydney, Australia. He studies community engagement in governance, decentralised governance, and the role of governance in the adoption and scale-up of health system innovations. He is the current Prince Claus Chair (on Justice in Global Health Research) at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where he is drawing insight from his ongoing research on health system governance to inform global health practice. He is the Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Global Health.
 
 
Stephen Hodgins 
Editor-in-Chief, Global Health: Science and Practice; Professor, University of Alberta School of Public Health, Canada
Steve Hodgins has served as Editor-in-Chief of Global Health: Science and Practice since 2017 and as an Associate Editor since 2014. But, he has been involved with the journal since its launch in 2013 as an author and reviewer. He is currently on the faculty of the School of Public Health, at the University of Alberta and prior to that was a Technical Expert for Save the Children. Throughout his career Dr. Hodgins has been preoccupied by the nexus of evidence and sound public health practice. His particular interests lie in the program implementation process, community health services, nutrition, and reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health. 
 
Rajani R. Ved
Associate Editor, Global Health: Science and Practice
Previously, she was the Executive Director of the National Health Systems Resource Center in Delhi, India, a technical assistance agency that supports health systems strengthening at central and state government levels.  She played a key role in developing and providing implementation support to India’s Comprehensive Primary Health Care effort. She has more than 30 years of experience with community health worker programs, health systems strengthening, implementation research, and scaling up innovations. She has worked with national and state governments, research institutions, aid agencies, and grassroots community organizations. She has a medical degree from Madras University and a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University and is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.