Stories matter in times of conflict and moral scarcity: June edition of the Decolonising Global Health blog series
6 hours and 5 minutes ago
In the June instalment of our 12-part 'Decolonising Global Health' series, Maju Brunette returns, this time joined by Dr Nick Maynard, to reflect on the role of storytelling in times of war and a global moral crisis. Drawing on their personal experiences in health care and academia, they call for a more just and inclusive global health community – one that listens carefully to those most affected and acts with humility and purpose.
About the authors
Maju Brunette is an MSc in Global Healthcare Leadership student at the University of Oxford and Associate Professor in Global Health Equity at The Ohio State University. Maju is passionate about reimagining global health through a decolonial lens. Drawing on her skills as an engineer and systems thinker she is engaged and committed to fighting structural inequalities to promote health equity locally and globally.
Nick Maynard is a leading consultant upper gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals who has worked extensively in Gaza since 2010 and led one of the first emergency medical teams into Gaza in response to the current crisis in December 2023. He was recently awarded one of the first ever UK Humanitarian Medals by HRH King Charles in the UK and has just been appointed as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
The power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming and emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism, and constitutes one of the main connections between them.
― Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (1993)
Society is made, shaped and conceivably annihilated by humans. Today our global health community is experiencing excruciating pains, powerlessly witnessing the impact of multiple man-made humanitarian crises. These crises are evidence of a serious disregard for international humanitarian laws.
As members of the academic community from the Global North and South, we are in a privileged position as we have a voice that plays an essential role in co-creating spaces of collaboration to dismantle unequal systems and power structures that perpetuate global health inequalities.
In the first blog of the Decolonising Global Health series, Maju reflected on the impact of narratives in shaping global health practices and the urgent need to move beyond incomplete and inaccurate models. Considering the urgency of the global geopolitical crisis, today more than ever, moving beyond ‘the danger of a single story’ could generate a gradual shift in power dynamics within global academia by amplifying existing efforts to decolonise knowledge systems. From this new lens, we could leverage the impact of our voices to prevent us from losing our humanity. We cannot look away from our daily pursuit of doing what we can to prevent the suffering of others.
This month, we offer a joint perspective on the global humanitarian crisis, with shame as we acknowledge that ‘the most vulnerable are the worst betrayed’. Most importantly, we share these reflections with a firm belief that within the medical system who decides how and when to tell the story matters. By elevating first-hand accounts of the facets of oppression and domination against Palestinians and the destruction of their healthcare system, we are able to contribute to the collective regain of dignity and humanity and ultimately move beyond the ‘danger of the single story’.
The art of storytelling and poetry offer unique possibilities for decolonising and tackling long-time epistemic inequalities. For example as we wrote this piece, one particular poem resonated with us, ‘Because of us’ written by Em Berry published in November 2023. It presents a light of hope calling for poets, doctors and healthcare workers ‘to dress the open wounds of war’. The poem reads:
This morning I learned
The English word gauze
(finely woven medical cloth)
Comes from the Arabic word […] Ghazza
Because Gazans have been skilled weavers for centuries
I wondered then
how many of our wounds
have been dressed
because of them
and how many of theirs
have been left open
because of us
To our belief, the poem serves as a symbol of a global protest of systematic slaughtering of patients and healthcare workers in civilian hospitals happening in front of our eyes.
Choosing action: Global health dialogues in Columbus, Ohio
Building on these reflections and grounded in shared commitments, our conversations moved from Oxford at events like the Green Templeton College panel discussion 'Leadership in Times of Crisis' to Columbus, Ohio. If you aren’t familiar with Columbus, it is home to a vibrant and hardworking community in the Midwest of the United States.
Nick Maynard transports the audience to a real humanitarian setting to see how clinical practice and teaching takes place within a health system, Oxford, UK; 13 September 2024
Bridging multiple disciplines and communities of practice in a series of discussions, a diverse group of community stakeholders – including local medical and health sciences students – were offered a seat at the table to grapple with difficult and uncomfortable questions about what it means to be a global citizen, a social activist and a humanitarian. During the course of an intense and rewarding week, we were able to share our responses amid the ongoing wars in safe spaces including churches, parks, museums and public libraries.
Nick Maynard offered a moving witness account of years of experience supporting medical professionals and providing medical education and humanitarian care in the occupied Palestinian territories. Audience members expressed after the event that they were inspired by the voice of a rare combination of an academic leader and humanitarian worker, particularly Nick’s deep thinking, humanism and above all, cultural humility! A recording of the keynote address is available to watch here.
Nick answers questions related to the critical challenges of working in Gaza’s destroyed healthcare infrastructure at the Columbus Mennonite Church, Columbus, OH, USA; 9 April 2025.
Thought-provoking ideas were shared throughout the week. Additional questions arose including:
- ‘How do we preserve our moral duty as healthcare professionals, researchers and practitioners in times of geopolitical and humanitarian crises?’
- ‘What are the similarities between ongoing war on healthcare in Gaza and our daily fight against health inequities and human rights abuses in our own backyards?
Maju Brunette speaks to local health practitioners and social justice advocates from Columbus, Ohio at the Ohio History Connection, the city’s main history museum; 10 April 2025.
Reaching out to the broader community and sharing our lived experiences is one way we aim to fulfil our moral responsibility from within the ‘ivory tower’ of global academia. We all share a responsibility to address power, equity and transformation in global health.
Reframing medical education: Epistemic inequalities and winning the argument for humanity
Considering the new global health landscape, we believe it is time to collectively rethink and reframe the problems we are trying to solve within medical and health sciences. While we may not have a full understanding of how profoundly the global process of decolonisation has shaped the medical field, we know that any shift in power within the medical knowledge ecosystems in the Global North will have an impact on global health inequities and our ability to promote healthier, prosperous and more equal communities globally.
Is it possible to imagine a future where academic decision-makers in the Global North commit to stand for human rights and work alongside the community to co-create, co-design and co-produce equitable and comprehensive medical and health sciences education systems? Of course, a few compromises may be necessary, but we must decide which ones are justifiable from both an ethical and social justice lens. The interconnectedness of medical education, epistemic inequalities and humanitarian research and practice offer important questions that are worth exploring further.
Nick Maynard speaks to local medical students from Columbus, Ohio at the Grandview Heights Public Library, 7 April 2025.
Building a world where many worlds fit
The Lancet gave us a wake-up call about another urgent health challenge – adolescent health – offering insights about how best to advance the global agenda: ‘Adolescence is foremost a time of ideas, reimagination, revolution and a creation of new approaches – exactly what we all need for a better future and the survival of our planet.’ Reflecting on this, we’ve asked ourselves: Could we imagine going back to our adolescence to wear both our academic and social justice hats?
This idea filled us with a renewed sense of optimism and determination. Today, we have a fresh opportunity to reframe the decolonising global health and humanitarian movements. Where do we begin? Perhaps with something simple – like a bike ride, a walk or a swim – to reconnect with the imagination of our younger selves. By connecting with our inner child, we can begin to practise critical advocacy and solidarity with people affected by injustice and oppression.
We should seek a world where many worlds fit, or ‘Queremos un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos’ as we say in our beautiful Spanish language. Let us remember Frank Barat’s answer to the question of when he became an activist, shared in the introduction to Chomsky and Pappe’s On Palestine (2014):
‘We do not become activists, we simply forget that we are. We are all born with compassion, generosity, and love for others inside us. We are all moved by injustice and discrimination. We are all, inside, concerned human beings. We all want to give more than to receive. We all want to live in a world where solidarity and companionship are more important values than individualism and selfishness. We all want to share beautiful things; experience joy, laughter, love; and experiment, together.’
In these challenging times, privileged members of global academia must begin wearing the social justice hat and reconnect with the humanity that may have faded but is still within us.
The good news is that the tide is turning. There are multiple academic initiatives moving in the right direction. Two recent examples come to mind:
- On 13 June, key humanitarian, political and legal voices gathered at the Said Business School’s Nelson Mandela Theatre to discuss geopolitical implications and legal accountabilities resulting from the ongoing war crimes in Gaza. The panel, chaired by Nick Maynard, offered powerful insights about what the future holds for Palestine. The discussion looked ahead at how a new healthcare system could be rebuilt after 20 months of systematic and targeted destruction.
- Maju Brunette recently met with co-Associate Director of Oxford Global Health Dr Caesar Attuire, to discuss bioethics within the framework of decolonising scholarly initiatives at Oxford University. Oxford is working on a progressive approach that shifts the focus to where and how dialogues happen.
Closing reflections
It’s been said that the best foundation for any institution is the aim to help create a better world. Undoubtedly, academic medical institutions and universities globally have a key role in preparing tomorrow's healthcare leaders.
We close with an open invitation: to reflect with us on the importance of stories and who decides how and when to tell them. After one of the first community dialogues in Columbus, we received a handwritten note from a medical student. It read, ‘In times of adversity, having professors like you is invaluable in my own and my peer’s pursuit of a comprehensive education’.
Let’s keep getting into good trouble!
Maju Brunette and Nick Maynard
Click here to view a recommended further reading list from the authors.
Nick Maynard speaks to local medical students in Columbus, Ohio; 11 April 2025. Photo courtesy of Nick DeSantis, WOSU NPR
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