Katri Bertram
@katribertram
Transforming global health and social impact. Private account & views. & katribertram.wordpress.com
I’m for now reducing social media time here (& on Insta), as LinkedIn (my not-beloved platform) works better to catch up & connect. However, random thoughts are best placed here, so here goes after I caught up on the viral Seibert ZEIT interview…1/3
#Ebola - the type of update that is currently lacking but direly needed! 👇
Worth a read (Carney / Stubb) 👇 When other leaders are going haywire or are lost, why not position yourself as the sane alternative? 😉 Last line: “we invite (others) to join us on this quest.”
And the world (and our #globalhealth sector) continues its ways, with this concluding a hearing on child abuse and men keeping girls and women as sex slaves. #MoneyNoMorals
Today’s data that is now always hidden behind a boring template and non-saying lead “Ebola sitrep”. Media coverage this way… zero.
2026 “Unsere Demokratie ist bedroht.” @zeit.de (AfD is polling >40% ahead of September’s regional state election.)
Happy pride from Berlin! Maus, unpolitisch war gestern. Haltung ist hot 🌈 💪
Remember all the “is this now fascism” debates? Well, check your definitions 👇, because what is now in stake is “is this now authoritarianism”? (Spoiler: Yes!)
This one too - I’ve rarely seen such weak reporting in a paper I usually admire and learn from. A few lines in the end ‘will stifle innovation‘, ’ruin growth’… and that’s supposed to nail it…?!? 🙄
“Dangerous”, “radical”, “batty”, “wrong”, “must be resisted”. I’ve read @economist.com for 30 years and the last time I disagreed this much was when the magazine claimed smoking really isn’t that bad. (And I’m an economist by training.) 👎
Finally watched Heldin / Late Shift, a beautiful film about #healthworker shortages (and the toll on all sides) www.berlinale.de/de/2025/prog...
Oh this was bound to happen…and it did when I jumped onto a train in a rush… There’s a quick (4h) commuter train, a longer (4.5h) one - and one that doesn’t show on any app because no-one would take the full route (8.5h). 🤣
Germany, now the largest global SRHR donor (if I understood correctly from Guyana’s chair) is also the most reluctant to lead. Call for awareness, partnerships, managing expectations of donor budgets. However, important signal to co-host session & state: SRHR is not an add-on but essential in UHC!
”One word: hierarchy” Powerful remarks by Dr Awsan Bahattab about power. -In crisis first responders are those affected. Yet we call them ‘beneficiaries’, and all decisions are made in headquarters or by donors. -In research local knowledge does not set the agenda or shape research priorities.
“How can you be neutral when children are attacked with chemical weapons?” asks Aura Abbara (Imperial). “We always have to be impartial, but it’s impossible to be neutral.”
A perhaps contested but important point made by the Lancet commission (humanitarian health): Neutrality is not a condition for legitimacy. Humanitarian actors often take positions in conflict and crisis. Impartialilty (care/protection without discrimination) is what counts.
I’m at an important report launch at WHA today, which is central to our work at Médecins du Monde internationally www.thelancet.com/commissions-...
Thank you @bmg-bund.bsky.social for a 🌟 reception. It’s good to hear the Minister‘s continued strong commitment to #globalhealth and @who.int. Hoping Germany also plays a more active role on the architecture reform process. To be cont in a discussion with the State Secretary & NGOs tomorrow.
Obligatory #WHA79 arrival photo. I have this E Roosevelt picture on my office wall.
At #WHA79 I will be focusing on 3 key issues: 1️⃣ Ensuring everyone can access quality, affordable health care #UHC 2️⃣ Not rolling back or staying silent on #gender #SRHR safe #abortion 3️⃣ Justice in the face of attacks on #healthworkers & #humanitarians #IHL 👇
11 hours on the train for sustainability and because of high flight prices. This hopefully qualifies as my #WalkTheTalk effort as I miss my favorite annual walk in Geneva - enjoy, everyone participating!