Save you a seat at our global health film festival?

The names of all writers appear at the bottom of the post.

When we think of an orchestra, we typically envision a musical ensemble where different instruments work together, led by a conductor. The concept of an orchestra can be likened to the concept of Global Health. Countries are instruments, and the quality of the music depends on how well each instrument plays and how they interact with each other. For example, the out-of-tune flute can ruin the entire overture, and if the double bass is missing, it can be extra difficult to keep the rhythm. A country facing a particular health challenge can spread false harmonies and blurred beats to the entire rest of the orchestra.

One step forward, two steps back

In recent years, the global health symphony has become increasingly threatened. More and more countries are shifting their focus away from the global health agenda to prioritize national interests and military defense over international aid. Recently, the Trump administration officially canceled 83 percent of the United States assistance (USAID), the world’s largest international aid agency. Since then, access to lifesaving health care and treatments (such as HIV medications) has virtually disappeared in many regions around the world, leaving millions of people at increased risk. Trends of reducing foreign aid is also present in Europe, where countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France have announced major reductions to their assistance in the last few years.

More and more countries are shifting their focus away from the global health agenda

At the same time, anti-rights movements are actively undermining the human rights foundation that supports global health progress. One of the most influential is the global anti-gender movement, a well-organized, transnational network working to reverse decades of progress toward gender equity. Amongst other goals, the movement actively works to restrict reproductive healthcare, criminalize LGBTQ+ identities, and ban sexual health education.

As global health initiatives are de-prioritized and anti-rights movements gain momentum, the progress made toward global health equity is increasingly threatened. Meanwhile, communities globally  are facing systemic attacks on their autonomy through state-sanctioned violence, violations of bodily autonomy, corporate exploitation of ancestral lands, and inaccessible infrastructure, amongst other issues.

Portraying the protagonists

In spite of the uncertainty that taints our thoughts and feelings about where the future might take us, communities keep standing together, looking out for each other and offering support and help in different forms and manners. We see how people are trying to prevent collapse by spreading awareness via social media, participating in protests, organizing events, and educating others. No matter what hardship people are experiencing, they act with courage and determination, holding on to hope.

Some of these people are portrayed at the Global Health Film Days. We have curated a film program that presents the health angle of a changing world. We believe in the ability of film to translate the issues at hand to emotions and experiences in the minds of viewers – artistically, truly and raw. We believe that the cinematic experience is essential to our understanding of how specific actions and decisions affect societies globally, and what our individual roles are in those events.

Save you a seat?

Global Health Film Days creates a space and an opportunity to face crude thematics that are central to our lives. We invite you into a space where you can bear witness to and participate in small actions of change. While we sit with feelings, thoughts, and worries, as spectators of on screen affliction and injustice, we together support change and hope in a world of anguish and anticipation.

Save you a seat?

Names of all signees:

Maria Alves da Silva, MSc in Global Health
Silvia Pavan, PhD Fellow in Public Health
Kendall Marie Hogerty, MSc in Global Health
Alexandra Haavardsson Gates, BA in Film and Media Studies
Sophia Cornelisse, MSc Global Health
Lena Skovgaard Andersen, Associate Professor, Global Health Section
TaiXi Gong, MSc in Global Health
Morten Mechlenborg Nørulf, Communication and Project Manager, School of Global Health
Hsiu-Chun Chien, Exchange Student, MSc in Public Health
Katharina Bach, MSc in Global Health
Anniken Høeg Halvorsen, MSc in Medicine
Kristyna Pestova, MSc in Global Health
Lili Lehota, MSc in Global Health
Julia Lückel, MSc Molecular Biomedicine
Malin Bormann, MSc in Global Health
Marieke Dohrmann, MSc in Global Health
Sara Aakre Faradonbeh, MSc in Medicine
Minji Hong, MSc in Global Health
Maria Fernanda Soto Piedra, MSc in Global Health
Raphaël Kaiser, BSc in General Engineering
Aimee Holland, MSc in Global Health
Clara Schweizer, MSc in Global Health