News archive

The large hall at Münchenbryggeriet in Stockholm was buzzing with life on Friday morning 12 April when general physicians from all over Sweden practiced mass casualty management and triage, using the simulation exercise AnTriEx, which is developed and instructed by the research group Global Disaster Medicine - Health Needs and Responses at KI.

Dr Joseph Kabatende is a Health Products and Regulatory Systems Specialist working for the WHO. He completed his PhD in 2023 from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden after defending his doctoral thesis entitled “Pharmacovigilance of Mass Drug Administration for Control of Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminths in Rwanda".

Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University in Uganda have been working together for over 20 years. In 2021 they established a Centre based on their strong partnership to bring people together, recognize their health challenges and mobilize actions towards well-being. Today the Centre provides tools, resources and training programs for researchers, students, professionals and policy makers globally.

Tigist Dires Gebreyesus is an Ethiopian public health specialist with a master’s in public health from University of Gondar, Ethiopia. She has been working within the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority, the former Ethiopian Food, Medicine and Healthcare Administration and Control Authority. In December 2023, Dr Gebreyesus defended her doctoral thesis that was part of the PROFORMA project at Karolinska Institutet, Department of Global Public Health.

KI will be expanding the Master's Programme in Global Health from a one-year programme to a two-year master's programme. KI has been offering the master's program in global health since 2012. In the fall semester of 2025, the first batch of students will begin the first round of the two-year master's program.

The 13 March, Karolinska Institutet hosted several prominent researchers from The Lancet Global Health Commission on Medical Oxygen Security at the Widerström building, with a focus on discussing how to secure the availability of medical oxygen in the world.

The EU Horizon Changemaker project, led by Kristi Sidney Annerstedt, on sustainable adolescent nutrition in Kenya, Tanzania and Burkina Faso, successfully completed the first Consortium meeting.

Nina Viberg and Tobias Alfvén have received funding from the Swedish Institute for a one year project to support Ukrainian PhD students and young researchers. The aim of the project is to build capacity for PhD student and young researcher so that they can effectively contribute to health systems strengthening especially for children and adolescents in deoccupied territories in Ukraine.

In February 2024, the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health and GPH colleagues had the pleasure to accompany Vice President Martin Bergö to Makerere University in Uganda, a long-term partner of Karolinska Institutet. During the visit the vice president was introduced to the Karolinska Institutet – Makerere collaboration and got the possibility to meet colleagues and see different projects.

On Wednesday, March 6, the university management, President Annika Östman Wernerson, Vice President Martin Bergö and University Director Veronika Sundström visited the Department of Global Public Health, to gain a better insight into the department's activities. Key issues discussed included global awareness, the department's strengths and how dialogue can strengthen cooperation. In addition to the university management, the department's management team and Dean Carl Johan Sundberg participated.

Adam Mitangu Fimbo is a doctoral student at Karolinska Institutet, but not for much longer. On April 26 he will defend is doctoral thesis titled Pharmacovigilance of Mass Drug Administration as Preventive Chemotherapy to Control and Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis in Tanzania. Meet the Director General of Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority, and expert on the safety and quality of drug administration.

Zambia is currently experiencing the worst cholera outbreak in over two decades. The acute diarrhoeal disease can be deadly if not treated, however with rapid and correct help, the majority of people affected can be treated successfully. The Centre for Health Crises as seconded members of staff to cholera outbreaks before, and on the 26th of January, Caroline de Groot went to Zambia, via the Centre’s collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The eastern mediterranean region is currently facing a brewing health crisis, brought on not least by the war in Gaza. The danger of spread of infectious diseases means that effective epidemiological surveillance and action is key. To assist in these efforts, the Centre for Health Crises has seconded epidemiologist Moa Herrgård via our membership in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN).

In February, Vice President Martin Bergö visited Makerere University in Uganda, a long-term partner of Karolinska Institutet. As the chairman of the steering committee for the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH), a collaborative initiative between Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University, he met his counterparts at the university and the college of health sciences, toured research sites, discussed global health challenges, and met with alumni and partners.

Both programs have been running since 2020 at the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health - a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University in Uganda.

Professor Eleni Aklillu, from the GH-Pharma research group, is leading a clinical trial capacity strengthening initiative in Rwanda.

Every year worldwide, around 1 billion children aged 2–17 experience physical, sexual, or psychological violence or neglect, representing approximately half of the global child population. Sociologist Sergio Keita Nhassengo investigates epidemiology of violence against children in Mozambique and the readiness of stakeholders across organizations to counter and prevent child maltreatment. Meet the PhD student who wants a future where all children can live in a safe environment free from violence.

Beyond surviving after an injury comes living. To what extent a person is able to return to the life and independence previously enjoyed is an important aspect of recovery and rehabilitation is often a crucial factor in that. Nonetheless, it is a factor often overlooked in humanitarian settings and it is an area where more research is needed. Bérangère Gohy’s PhD thesis looks beyond survival, to how recovery is measured and what the patients’ road to regained independence looks like.

The internationalisation board is pleased to announce the availability of limited competitive funds for grant applications to strengthen collaborative interactions within oral health and innovations.

On November 9, the seminar ”How can Sweden contribute to Global Neonatal Research” was organized on the initiative of Global Youth and Child Health, a section of the Swedish Paediatric Society and the Swedish Network for Global Child Health. Around 50 physical participants and up to 70 online with different engagements in global newborn health attended the seminar. From researchers and academics to clinicians working for NGOs and public health specialists participated.

Five researchers at the Department of Global Public Health have been awarded a number of grants in medicine and health from The Swedish Research Council.

This year, Forte has awarded funding to a total of 20 projects at Karolinska Institutet, including three researchers from the Department of Global Public Health, Anna-Clara Hollander, Sibylle Herzig Van Wees and Lene Lindberg.

Global health is becoming increasingly complex, ranging from pandemics and climate change to wars, migration and deteriorating mental health. There is an urgent need for a new generation of global health leaders, equipped with the skills to navigate different political environments and drive change. The Stockholm School of Economics and Karolinska Institutet are now launching a new initiative to meet the challenges ahead.

Karolinska Institutet and Professor Eleni Aklillu at the Department of Global Public Health leads a new initiative, that aims to enhance the oversight of medicines, medical devices, diagnostics, research ethics, and clinical trials in Tanzania and Rwanda.

Giulia Gaudenzi and Kelly Elimian are currently running a research project focused on assessing the diagnostic accuracy of rapid diagnostic test kits for detecting cholera in environmental water in comparison to standard diagnostic methods, such as culture and PCR, in Nigeria. They have conducted trainings in Nigeria on the use of these test kits.

Taking place in Stockholm on 11-12th October the ENBEL transdisciplinary conference brought together researchers, policy makers, NGOs and private sector representatives to present and discuss climate change effects on health, as well as adaptation, societal consequences, and opportunities for climate resilient development. One of the main objects of the EU-funded project is to enhance collaboration between health, environmental and climate research.

Global Child Health and Sustainable Development Goals group member Anna-Theresia Ekman had her halftime seminar October 9 for her PhD project titled: Prevalence, associated risk factors, and early detection of developmental delay and disabilities among young children living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It began with a text message in the early hours of the morning. A few hours later he was on a plane to Morocco, reading the first reports and trying to start a secondary data analysis of the situation. Within the 48 hours after the earthquake, he was in the most affected region. He had barely gotten back from that mission, when he was asked to go to Libya and to do the same thing all over again, this time in a heavily flooded town.

With only six years left until 2030 when the Sustainable Development Goals are to be achieved, this year's Sustainability Forum was organised with a focus on the role of universities in sustainability work. The organisers were the University Alliance Stockholm Trio. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends infants to be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development, and health. But in some contexts, such as in a humanitarian emergency, adopting and maintaining optimal breastfeeding practices could be challenging. Unpacking what the challenges and opportunities of breastfeeding support in humanitarian emergencies are, and how to conduct such support effectively, is the topic of Nieves Amat Camacho’s PhD.

The yearly StratNeuro retreat gathers neuroscience researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University, and the Royal Institute of Technology for a couple of days of networking and getting up to date with the latest research from across the spectrum of neuroscience topics aligning with the interests that the StratNeuro constellation represents. This year, our retreat took place on the 29th and 30th of May, at Djurönäset, in a picturesque location by the Stockholm archipelago.

Ángela Amorós Molina is a former Global Health master student who was invited to present at Rowan University that has hosted a workshop series about teaching and research on the Sustainable Development Goals. Her paper Integrating the United Nations sustainable development goals into higher education globally: a scoping review, sparked the workshop participants to reflect on the importance of raising awareness among the students of the role of the SDGs and increase their presence in university.

Team member Carina King with colleagues’ have an article published in this month’s issue of The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. The paper that is also featured on the cover, is about a multifacility, prospective, observational study conducted in rural Bangladesh to evaluate the potential effect of pulse oximetry implementation on the WHO IMCI-based outpatient care of 3848 young children with suspected pneumonia.

Dr Giulia Dallagiacoma graduated from medical school at the University of Pavia, Italy, where she also recently completed her specialty in Public Health and Preventive Medicine. As part of her specialty training, she had the opportunity to visit another university and therefore joined Karolinska Institutet as a guest researcher to write her thesis project on RSV prevention among children.

Recently four of the researchers at the Department of Global Public Health received funds for different research projects, Kristi Sidney Annerstedt, Anna Ohlis, Ann Liljas, and Renee Gardner. We asked them a few questions to know more about the projects and what the funds will contribute to.

According to UNICEF, approximately one in five young people suffer from mental health issues, which in turn often leads to risk-taking with alcohol, tobacco and drugs. In the long run, it can cause lifelong health impairments in adulthood. In a three-year project coordinated by Karolinska Institutet, a method used to improve young people’s wellbeing in India, Kenya, the U.S. and Colombia is being evaluated to see if it can work in other parts of the world.

Lifestyles, the pandemic and dental care were some of the topics under discussion when Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forssmed visited Karolinska Institutet on 28 August, the same day as the autumn term kicked off.

Earlier this summer UIDP in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet held a two-day event where strategic thinkers and leading practitioners met to discuss approaches for increasing innovation and building strong partnerships between universities, industry, and government. One of the invited speakers was Tobias Alfvén, who discussed how different sectors can contribute to the Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The podcast Riskzonen, featuring well-known KI staff members Mattis Öberg and Emma Frans, is back with a new season! The four episodes were released in May and June, and after a brief break over summer, more episodes will now be released each Monday, starting on 28 August. Each episode features the topic health crisis, in one way or another, ranging from relief efforts in war to antibiotic resistance. The new season is made in collaboration with the Centre for Health Crises.

Global Child Health and Sustainable Development Goals team members Olivia Biermann and Mariam Claeson are commissioners on the second Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. Together they co-lead the commission’s workstream on the political economy of adolescent mental health and well-being. Last month, May 9-11, they visited Nairobi, Kenya for a midterm meeting to present and discuss the progress of the workstreams of the commission.

At the Global Child Health and Sustainable Development Goals' team meeting May 17, students supervised by team members were invted to present their thesis. All students gave excellent presentations on various topics within global health, followed by questions and discussion in the team. Thank you to all the students that joined us to present and congratultions on your great work.

Students from the study programmes in nursing, radiography, medicine and psychology attended the new elective course in Sustainable Health and Development, 7.5 credits, which is offered for the first time in the spring term of 2023. The course is developed by the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health, which is a cooperation between KI and Makerere University.

Juliet Mwanga-Amumpaire is a paediatrician and Associate Professor of paediatrics at Mbarara University with over ten years of experience conducting clinical research. She is currently the director of Epicentre Mbarara Research Centre run by Médecins Sans Frontières that conducts health related research aiming to guide policy for stakeholders in health. She recently pursued her PhD where she studied the quality of care at private health facilities in Uganda.

UNICEF Sweden, UNICEF Office of Innovation and the Swedish Network for Global Child Health hosted a seminar to discuss The State of the World’s Children (SOWC), a bi-annual report published by UNICEF. This year it focuses on routine childhood vaccinations. Tobias Alfvén and Stefan Swartling Peterson from Karolinska Institutet moderated the panel discussions From Vaccine to Vaccination and Convergence of State of the World's Children and EU global health strategy.

University of Rwanda and the Swedish Embassy in Kigali celebrated 20 years of cooperation. At the three day-celebration in Rwanda were representatives from the University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, Uppsala University among others. Following the celebration, KTH held a two-day workshop as a kickoff for expanded and deepened cooperation under a new agreement that was signed. Stefan Swartling Peterson and Giulia Gaudenzi report from their trip to Rwanda.

The newborn care researchers in the team Global Child Health and Sustainable Development Goals, have visited research colleagues at the Phu San Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. The visit included meetings with the director and vice-director of Phu San, Dr Nguyen Duy Anh and Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, visits to hospital departments, presentation of ongoing and upcoming research, workshops, simulation trainings and planning of studies including the NeoSpirit project and future Vietnamese PhD candidates.

Elin Larsson has been appointed to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) to the HRP, i.e. the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction.

Funding for the Minor Field Studies program (MFS-program) has been withdrawn due to economic instability and the war in Ukraine. But, says Associate professor Claudia Hanson at the Department of Global Health at Karolinska Institutet, the withdrawal also indicates a moving away from global solidarity.

Several KI researchers are part of an international project that has been awarded nearly $15 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with $1 million co-funding from the Swedish government. The project involves a multi-country study to better understand the burden of Human papillomavirus (HPV) among girls and women in low and lower middle-income countries.

Mats Hallgren receives a grant of 3 930 000 SEK for the project “Post covid-19 as a threat to healthy ageing: a randomized controlled trial of yoga to improve quality of life”.