Pieternella Pieterse
@p-pieterse.bsky.social
Research fellow, Institute of Global Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Health systems, human resources for health research, mainly Africa focused. PI of HRH in Sierra Leone study.
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
Toxic men and their war mongering will make sure that there is always money for bombs, but not enough for healthcare
September 6, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Toxic men and their war mongering will make sure that there is always money for bombs, but not enough for healthcare
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
In Gambia is een babymeisje van een maand oud overleden nadat zij bij een illegale besnijdenis te veel bloed verloor. De dood van het meisje leverde in het West-Afrikaanse land grote verontwaardiging op. www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/g...
Gambiaans babymeisje overleden na een besnijdenis
In Gambia is een babymeisje van een maand oud overleden nadat zij bij een illegale besnijdenis te veel bloed verloor. De dood van het meisje leverde in het West-Afrikaanse land grote verontwaardiging ...
www.volkskrant.nl
August 12, 2025 at 4:12 PM
In Gambia is een babymeisje van een maand oud overleden nadat zij bij een illegale besnijdenis te veel bloed verloor. De dood van het meisje leverde in het West-Afrikaanse land grote verontwaardiging op. www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/g...
Delighted to share that @federics.bsky.social and I just published a new paper, Employed but unpaid… which is an investigation into the challenges faced by Sierra Leone’s many (possibly as many as half of the clinical health workforce) so-called volunteer health workers. One of the first in-depth …
Good morning, everyone,
I am pleased to share a new article we just got published with @p-pieterse.bsky.social
"Employed but Unpaid, Volunteers or Paradoxical Surplus? Sierra Leone's Unsalaried Health Workforce"
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40778790/
I am pleased to share a new article we just got published with @p-pieterse.bsky.social
"Employed but Unpaid, Volunteers or Paradoxical Surplus? Sierra Leone's Unsalaried Health Workforce"
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40778790/
Employed but Unpaid, Volunteers or Paradoxical Surplus? Sierra Leone's Unsalaried Health Workforce - PubMed
Unsalaried clinical health worker numbers have increased in PHUs since 2016; an estimated 4000-5000 unsalaried clinical staff is in precarious employment, awaiting payroll inclusion. The majority of t...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
August 12, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Delighted to share that @federics.bsky.social and I just published a new paper, Employed but unpaid… which is an investigation into the challenges faced by Sierra Leone’s many (possibly as many as half of the clinical health workforce) so-called volunteer health workers. One of the first in-depth …
It’s shocking that this needs to be said again and again, in 2025…
People everywhere must have access to health services, supplies and humanitarian aid. #HealthForAll
August 10, 2025 at 12:42 PM
It’s shocking that this needs to be said again and again, in 2025…
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
@doctorswithoutborders.org released a report this morning documenting the targeted, orchestrated killing of civilians at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution sites.
Please read and do everything in your power to stop this.
www.msf.org/not-aid-orch... 1/7
Please read and do everything in your power to stop this.
www.msf.org/not-aid-orch... 1/7
August 7, 2025 at 8:55 AM
@doctorswithoutborders.org released a report this morning documenting the targeted, orchestrated killing of civilians at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution sites.
Please read and do everything in your power to stop this.
www.msf.org/not-aid-orch... 1/7
Please read and do everything in your power to stop this.
www.msf.org/not-aid-orch... 1/7
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
Incredibly instructive reporting on what appears well on its way to becoming the biggest, most concentrated, most energy- and resource-intensive, and most speculative wave of capital investment ever.
ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...
ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...
July 31, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Incredibly instructive reporting on what appears well on its way to becoming the biggest, most concentrated, most energy- and resource-intensive, and most speculative wave of capital investment ever.
ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...
ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
An important and eloquent letter from our friend and colleague, Roberto De Vogli - please read and share
Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza
Substantial and well-documented evidence indicates a catastrophic public health emergency
in Gaza (appendix pp 1–5), marked by severe food insecurity and alarming levels of
malnutrition-related deaths...
www.thelancet.com
July 31, 2025 at 9:55 AM
An important and eloquent letter from our friend and colleague, Roberto De Vogli - please read and share
Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza - The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Just listened to the Nature podcast on this, fascinating. Congrats Dr Birhane
New paper hot off the press www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We analysed over 40,000 computer vision papers from CVPR (the longest standing CV conf) & associated patents tracing pathways from research to application. We found that 90% of papers & 86% of downstream patents power surveillance
1/
We analysed over 40,000 computer vision papers from CVPR (the longest standing CV conf) & associated patents tracing pathways from research to application. We found that 90% of papers & 86% of downstream patents power surveillance
1/
Computer-vision research powers surveillance technology - Nature
An analysis of research papers and citing patents indicates the extensive ties between computer-vision research and surveillance.
www.nature.com
June 27, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Just listened to the Nature podcast on this, fascinating. Congrats Dr Birhane
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
“Children are dying because medicines have been abruptly cut off, and risks of Ebola, tuberculosis and other diseases reaching America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses,” our columnist @nickkristof.bsky.social writes of U.S.A.I.D. cuts in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Opinion | The Waste Musk Created
www.nytimes.com
June 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
“Children are dying because medicines have been abruptly cut off, and risks of Ebola, tuberculosis and other diseases reaching America are increasing — while medicines sit uselessly in warehouses,” our columnist @nickkristof.bsky.social writes of U.S.A.I.D. cuts in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Such a fascinating paper:
May, also free in @lancetrh-europe.bsky.social with a great @obshealth.bsky.social team: health and patient-centric health systems are a key determinant of populist radical right voting. Better health and better health care can mean fewer people quitting political activity or voting far right
The role of health and health systems in shaping political engagement and rebuilding trust in democratic institutions
Around the world, institutional trust is declining while democratic discontent is
rising. What role do health and health systems play in this crisis? We review decades
of interdisciplinary research to...
www.thelancet.com
June 19, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Such a fascinating paper:
My perspective piece in the Int J of Health Management and Planning was published today.
"Health Workers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Concurrent Skilled Health Worker Shortages and Under-Employment," by Dr Pieternella Pieterse, Research Fellow, has been published in the International Journal of Health Planning and Management.
Read the full paper tinyurl.com/2y8ldlmp
@researchireland.ie
Read the full paper tinyurl.com/2y8ldlmp
@researchireland.ie
June 12, 2025 at 7:06 PM
My perspective piece in the Int J of Health Management and Planning was published today.
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
Why are more people not talking about this? Surely this needs to be made clear to a general public, some of whom really haven’t thought of this?!
Data centres around the world consume vast amounts of electricity and water.
Nick Couldry of @MediaLSE says we must stop using AI for trivial tasks to avoid worsening climate change. blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...
Nick Couldry of @MediaLSE says we must stop using AI for trivial tasks to avoid worsening climate change. blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessrevi...
May 14, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Why are more people not talking about this? Surely this needs to be made clear to a general public, some of whom really haven’t thought of this?!
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
(Part 1)
Dr Pieternella Pieterse’s Research Ireland-funded study: What impact do unsalaried health workers in Sierra Leone have on healthcare delivery?...
#Globalsurgery #GlobalSurgeryDay #GlobalSurgery10
@rcsi.bsky.social @researchireland.ie @p-pieterse.bsky.social
Dr Pieternella Pieterse’s Research Ireland-funded study: What impact do unsalaried health workers in Sierra Leone have on healthcare delivery?...
#Globalsurgery #GlobalSurgeryDay #GlobalSurgery10
@rcsi.bsky.social @researchireland.ie @p-pieterse.bsky.social
May 13, 2025 at 11:23 AM
(Part 1)
Dr Pieternella Pieterse’s Research Ireland-funded study: What impact do unsalaried health workers in Sierra Leone have on healthcare delivery?...
#Globalsurgery #GlobalSurgeryDay #GlobalSurgery10
@rcsi.bsky.social @researchireland.ie @p-pieterse.bsky.social
Dr Pieternella Pieterse’s Research Ireland-funded study: What impact do unsalaried health workers in Sierra Leone have on healthcare delivery?...
#Globalsurgery #GlobalSurgeryDay #GlobalSurgery10
@rcsi.bsky.social @researchireland.ie @p-pieterse.bsky.social
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
One of grants frozen at Cornell: $6.7M (4 yrs) to develop heart pumps for babies born w/ heart defects.
It took decades of work to get to point of prepping device for in-human clinical trials. No private company could do this.
The cruelty of the Trump administration is heartbreaking. So to speak.
It took decades of work to get to point of prepping device for in-human clinical trials. No private company could do this.
The cruelty of the Trump administration is heartbreaking. So to speak.
Research at risk: Life-saving heart pumps for babies | Cornell Chronicle
After receiving a stop-work order from the federal government, the future of a device to help children with heart defects is uncertain.
news.cornell.edu
May 7, 2025 at 11:56 AM
One of grants frozen at Cornell: $6.7M (4 yrs) to develop heart pumps for babies born w/ heart defects.
It took decades of work to get to point of prepping device for in-human clinical trials. No private company could do this.
The cruelty of the Trump administration is heartbreaking. So to speak.
It took decades of work to get to point of prepping device for in-human clinical trials. No private company could do this.
The cruelty of the Trump administration is heartbreaking. So to speak.
My colleague and I returned to Sierra Leone to share our research findings last week. Due to a lack of funding for health (low priority + minimal tax income) health worker graduates are engaged in public health sector jobs on ‘voluntary’ = unsalaried basis. In primary care half of all staff is…
IGS’ Pieternella Pieterse and Federico Saracini returned to Sierra Leone last week to share findings from their research into the effect that a 50% unsalaried clinical health workforce had on access to health for the poorest and health outcomes.
#ResearchIreland #PATHWAY @p-pieterse.bsky.social
#ResearchIreland #PATHWAY @p-pieterse.bsky.social
May 7, 2025 at 11:58 AM
My colleague and I returned to Sierra Leone to share our research findings last week. Due to a lack of funding for health (low priority + minimal tax income) health worker graduates are engaged in public health sector jobs on ‘voluntary’ = unsalaried basis. In primary care half of all staff is…
New WHO report “health gap targets will be missed, largely due to a lack of political will to tackle the structural drivers of poor health”
New @who.int global report shows within-country health inequities are widening and the health gap targets will be missed, largely due to a lack of political will to tackle the structural drivers of poor health @michaelmarmot.bsky.social @sudhvir.bsky.social #AllforEquity bit.ly/3SdE4lo
May 6, 2025 at 1:06 PM
New WHO report “health gap targets will be missed, largely due to a lack of political will to tackle the structural drivers of poor health”
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
Here's a nice story for you:
A group of young migrants in an asylum center in the Netherlands was gifted a fun day out to amusement park De Efteling.
But after remarks on social media by asylum minister Faber, the trip was canceled.
Today, crowd funds raised over 100,000 euros for a day out.
A group of young migrants in an asylum center in the Netherlands was gifted a fun day out to amusement park De Efteling.
But after remarks on social media by asylum minister Faber, the trip was canceled.
Today, crowd funds raised over 100,000 euros for a day out.
May 3, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Here's a nice story for you:
A group of young migrants in an asylum center in the Netherlands was gifted a fun day out to amusement park De Efteling.
But after remarks on social media by asylum minister Faber, the trip was canceled.
Today, crowd funds raised over 100,000 euros for a day out.
A group of young migrants in an asylum center in the Netherlands was gifted a fun day out to amusement park De Efteling.
But after remarks on social media by asylum minister Faber, the trip was canceled.
Today, crowd funds raised over 100,000 euros for a day out.
This is a truly inspiring group, a rare spark of hope in an otherwise bleak time for international cooperation and collaboration for the greater good of the planet and its peoples.
A growing group of pioneer governments are setting out how we can secure our common future by remaking international cooperation anew. This is how:
The world needs clean energy, cures for our most deadly diseases, and responsive emergency systems.
Global public investment can deliver these wins, by providing a way countries can work together and pool their resources.
#globalpublicinvestment
Global public investment can deliver these wins, by providing a way countries can work together and pool their resources.
#globalpublicinvestment
May 3, 2025 at 6:56 AM
This is a truly inspiring group, a rare spark of hope in an otherwise bleak time for international cooperation and collaboration for the greater good of the planet and its peoples.
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
‘This is insane:’ New NIH policy on funding foreign scientists stirs outrage | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
‘This is insane:’ New NIH policy on funding foreign scientists stirs outrage
Agency will make researchers outside United States seek grants of their own rather than “subawards” from U.S. scientists
www.science.org
May 3, 2025 at 6:12 AM
‘This is insane:’ New NIH policy on funding foreign scientists stirs outrage | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., has sent letters to several leading medical journals asking for information about their editorial practices.
Medical journals hit with threatening letters from Justice Department
The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., has sent letters to several leading medical journals asking for information about their editorial practices.
www.npr.org
May 2, 2025 at 8:38 PM
The acting U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., has sent letters to several leading medical journals asking for information about their editorial practices.
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
American scientists: maybe just pretending as though we aren't subject to the capricious whims of a mad king *isn't* a sensible strategy? The damage to #research, to scientific progress, & to #PublicHealth is going to be generational. We *must* respond accordingly.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
May 2, 2025 at 5:13 AM
American scientists: maybe just pretending as though we aren't subject to the capricious whims of a mad king *isn't* a sensible strategy? The damage to #research, to scientific progress, & to #PublicHealth is going to be generational. We *must* respond accordingly.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
🛑 Jan 24, 2025: the U.S. freezes all foreign aid — including PEPFAR.
7 countries. 90 days. HIV treatment disrupted. Waivers? Incomplete.
A new @thelancet.bsky.social study models the fallout. The results are devastating. 👇
www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl... #HealthPolicy 🧪🛟 💊🌐
7 countries. 90 days. HIV treatment disrupted. Waivers? Incomplete.
A new @thelancet.bsky.social study models the fallout. The results are devastating. 👇
www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl... #HealthPolicy 🧪🛟 💊🌐
The impact of the PEPFAR funding freeze on HIV deaths and infections: a mathematical modelling study of seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa
The sudden cessation of PEPFAR funding likely results in tens of thousands of HIV
deaths and new infections. These losses of life and health should compel the United
States government to rapidly and f...
www.thelancet.com
May 2, 2025 at 5:22 AM
🛑 Jan 24, 2025: the U.S. freezes all foreign aid — including PEPFAR.
7 countries. 90 days. HIV treatment disrupted. Waivers? Incomplete.
A new @thelancet.bsky.social study models the fallout. The results are devastating. 👇
www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl... #HealthPolicy 🧪🛟 💊🌐
7 countries. 90 days. HIV treatment disrupted. Waivers? Incomplete.
A new @thelancet.bsky.social study models the fallout. The results are devastating. 👇
www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl... #HealthPolicy 🧪🛟 💊🌐
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
We are in an *extraordinarily* dangerous moment for democracy, civil rights, & #PublicHealth. Share this video as widely as you can. Educate everyone you're able to. It's past time to push back *forcefully* against the ignorance & cruelty threatening us.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H34...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H34...
RFK Jr. & HHS: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
May 2, 2025 at 5:29 AM
We are in an *extraordinarily* dangerous moment for democracy, civil rights, & #PublicHealth. Share this video as widely as you can. Educate everyone you're able to. It's past time to push back *forcefully* against the ignorance & cruelty threatening us.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H34...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H34...
Reposted by Pieternella Pieterse
I keep coming back to this super effective framing: resistance to DEI and expanding equity is an attempt to maintain a monopoly over power, access, influence and opportunity
A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond.
I hope you’ll read and share the piece.
stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...
I hope you’ll read and share the piece.
stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...
What DEI threatens isn’t merit. It’s monopoly.
Political science professor Hakeem Jefferson argues for DEI's importance to de-monopolizing universities.
stanforddaily.com
April 25, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I keep coming back to this super effective framing: resistance to DEI and expanding equity is an attempt to maintain a monopoly over power, access, influence and opportunity