Emerging Voices for Global Health (EV4GH) is a network of young and emerging health-systems researchers, leaders, health activists and/or other change agents, with emphasis on those living and working in the global south. EV4GH catalyses, empowers and connects diverse voices with the capabilities and drive to challenge and address current and future health systems and policy issues at all levels with an equity lens.
EV4GH’s flagship activity is the bi-annual venture, linked to the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, encompassing an innovative programme of blended learning and peer support with exposure to the global health systems community. After the symposium, EV4GH also provides the space for collaboration and continued contribution in the EV4GH alumni led network. EV4GH as a Thematic Working Group (TWG) comprises both EV alumni members who underwent the flagship training programme and other young health system researchers, policy makers, health activists and/or other change agents who want to join the TWG.
Over time, the program has grown to include participants from all WHO regions and set up partnerships with institutions from different countries. A Secretariat, currently hosted by the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru (IPH) but in transition, supports the network and programme. Since 2010, seven editions of EV4GH have been linked to a global health event, mainly the Global Symposia on Health Systems Research. The EV4GH network comprises over 250 EV Alumni from nearly 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas, as well as about 250 non-alumni members.
Objectives
- Facilitate, support and transform young researchers, decision-makers and professionals into global health advocates and local change-agents and facilitate/contribute to positive change at global, regional, national and local levels.
- Engage in inter-Symposia events open to all young health policy and systems research (HPSR) researchers and boost synergies between EV alumni from different cohorts.
- Collaborate with other young global health groups with the aim to strengthen the young researchers network.
Key activities
The EV4GH TWG activities include the flagship EV4GH blended learning training programme, leading up to a pre-conference just before the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, as well as organizing EV4GH TWG events during and after the symposium, such as business lunches, organized sessions, webinars, young researcher workshops and Google Group discussions, among others. The EV4GH alumni publish on a regular basis, both as part of their own PhDs and contributing to global health and HPSR blogs, including the International Health Policies and BMJ blogs, among others. EV4GH also helps EV alumni to find their place in the broader HSG community: several EV4GH alumni have taken up key roles in other HSG TWGs in recent years. EV alumni are active in regional HSG chapters and regional HPSR networks.