Afifah Rahman-Shepherd
Biographic Data
| ID | 1256900 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Afifah Rahman-Shepherd |
| GIVEN NAMES | Afifah |
| FAMILY NAME | Rahman-Shepherd |
| SIGNATURE | RAHMAN-SHEPHERD A |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8845-9275 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Who is really shaping global health reform?
Same actors, same processes, same outcomes
Asean and the Covid-19 pandemic
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a state-based membership organisation that facilitates cooperation in Southeast Asia. Over the past two decades, ASEAN has strengthened its cooperation efforts in health, particularly in managing infectious diseases. This scoping review explores the role and response of ASEAN in the COVID-19 pandemic, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension fo…
Asean’s response to mpox
Doctors taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies is common and not substantially reduced by an educational intervention
INTRODUCTION: Incentive-linked prescribing, which is when healthcare providers accept incentives from pharmaceutical companies for prescribing promoted medicines, is a form of bribery that harms patients and health systems globally. We developed a novel method using data collectors posing as pharmaceutical company sales representatives to evaluate private doctors' engagement in incentive-linked prescribing and the impact of a multifaceted educati…
Caught between violence
box Countries in Africa are grappling with an ongoing multi-country outbreak of the Mpox virus
Healthcare consumers’ perceptions of incentive-linked prescribing
Incentive-linked prescribing (ILP) is considered a controversial practice universally. If incentivised, physicians may prioritise meeting pharmaceutical sales targets through prescriptions, rather than considering patients’ health and wellbeing. Despite the potential harms of ILP to patients and important stakeholders in the healthcare system, healthcare consumers (HCCs) which include patients and the general public often have far less awareness …
Socioecological factors linked with pharmaceutical incentive-driven prescribing in Pakistan
Pharmaceutical marketing through financial incentivisation to general practitioners (GPs) is a poorly studied health system problem in Pakistan. Pharmaceutical incentivisation is seen to be distorting GPs prescribing behaviour that can compromise the health and well-being of patients. We draw on a conceptual framework outlined in the ecological system theory to identify multiple factors linked with pharmaceutical incentivisation to GPs in Pakista…
Antiracism in leading public health universities, journals and funders
INTRODUCTION: Two years since the murder of George Floyd, there has been unprecedented attention to racial justice by global public health organisations. Still, there is scepticism that attention alone will lead to real change. METHODS: We identified the highest-ranked 15 public health universities, academic journals and funding agencies, and used a standardised data extraction template to analyse the organisation's governance structures, leaders…
Incentivisation practices and their influence on physicians’ prescriptions
Focus on profit-generating enterprise in healthcare can create conflicts of interest that adversely impact prescribing and pricing of medicines. Although a global challenge, addressing the impacts on quality of care is particularly difficult in countries where the pharmaceutical industry and physician lobby is strong relative to regulatory institutions. Our study characterises the range of incentives exchanged between the pharmaceutical industry …
The healthcare field as a marketplace
Incentivisation of general practitioners (GPs) by pharmaceutical companies is thought to affect prescribing practices, often not in patients' interest. Using a Bourdieusian lens, we examine the socially structured conditions that underpin exchanges between pharmaceutical companies and GPs in Pakistan. The analysis of qualitative interviews with 28 GPs and 13 pharmaceutical sales representatives (PSRs) shows that GPs, through prescribing medicines…
How conflicts of interest hinder effective regulation of healthcare
BACKGROUND: There has been insufficient attention to a fundamental force shaping healthcare policies-conflicts of interest (COI). We investigated COI, which results in the professional judgement of a policymaker or healthcare provider being compromised by a secondary interest, in relation to antimicrobial use, thereby illuminating challenges to the regulation of medicines use more broadly. Our objectives were to characterise connections between t…
Improving National Intelligence for Public Health Preparedness
The COVID-19 epidemic is the latest evidence of critical gaps in our collective ability to monitor country-level preparedness for health emergencies. The global frameworks that exist to strengthen core public health capacities lack coverage of several preparedness domains and do not provide mechanisms to interface with local intelligence. We designed and piloted a process, in collaboration with three National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) in E…
Decolonising global health in 2021
Decolonising global health was a hot topic in 2020. It was the subject of more than 50 academic articles between January and December 2020, appeared as a new area covered in numerous conferences, and featured in public statements by leaders of global health organisations. Although its aims have not been formally defined, we see ‘decolonising global health’ as a movement that fights against ingrained systems of dominance and power in the work to i…
Using critical information to strengthen pandemic preparedness
COVID-19 has demonstrated that most countries’ public health systems and capacities are insufficiently prepared to prevent a localised infectious disease outbreak from spreading. Strengthening national preparedness requires National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs), or their equivalent, to overcome practical challenges affecting timely access to, and use of, data that is critical to preparedness. Our situational analysis in collaboration with NPH…
WHO has been reformed
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolved, so did criticisms about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ability to combat international health crises in the 21st century Despite the expanding institutional landscape of public health, the WHO remains the de facto global health institution, especially among health professionals This is due to the agency’s unmatched history of working closely with member states before, after and during health emergencies It…
What can motivate Lady Health Workers in Pakistan to engage more actively in tuberculosis case-finding
This study indicated that interventions in addition to, or instead of, financial incentives could be used to increase LHW engagement in tuberculosis case-finding. Our finding about the strong role of internal motivation (intrinsic, religious) in Pakistan suggests that developing context-specific strategies that tap into internal motivation could allow infectious disease control programmes to improve engagement of community health workers without …
No prominent works on this page.
What can motivate Lady Health Workers in Pakistan to engage more actively in tuberculosis case-finding
This study indicated that interventions in addition to, or instead of, financial incentives could be used to increase LHW engagement in tuberculosis case-finding. Our finding about the strong role of internal motivation (intrinsic, religious) in Pakistan suggests that developing context-specific strategies that tap into internal motivation could allow infectious disease control programmes to improve engagement of community health workers without …
Using critical information to strengthen pandemic preparedness
COVID-19 has demonstrated that most countries’ public health systems and capacities are insufficiently prepared to prevent a localised infectious disease outbreak from spreading. Strengthening national preparedness requires National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs), or their equivalent, to overcome practical challenges affecting timely access to, and use of, data that is critical to preparedness. Our situational analysis in collaboration with NPH…
WHO has been reformed
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolved, so did criticisms about the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ability to combat international health crises in the 21st century Despite the expanding institutional landscape of public health, the WHO remains the de facto global health institution, especially among health professionals This is due to the agency’s unmatched history of working closely with member states before, after and during health emergencies It…
Improving National Intelligence for Public Health Preparedness
The COVID-19 epidemic is the latest evidence of critical gaps in our collective ability to monitor country-level preparedness for health emergencies. The global frameworks that exist to strengthen core public health capacities lack coverage of several preparedness domains and do not provide mechanisms to interface with local intelligence. We designed and piloted a process, in collaboration with three National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) in E…
Decolonising global health in 2021
Decolonising global health was a hot topic in 2020. It was the subject of more than 50 academic articles between January and December 2020, appeared as a new area covered in numerous conferences, and featured in public statements by leaders of global health organisations. Although its aims have not been formally defined, we see ‘decolonising global health’ as a movement that fights against ingrained systems of dominance and power in the work to i…
How conflicts of interest hinder effective regulation of healthcare
BACKGROUND: There has been insufficient attention to a fundamental force shaping healthcare policies-conflicts of interest (COI). We investigated COI, which results in the professional judgement of a policymaker or healthcare provider being compromised by a secondary interest, in relation to antimicrobial use, thereby illuminating challenges to the regulation of medicines use more broadly. Our objectives were to characterise connections between t…
Socioecological factors linked with pharmaceutical incentive-driven prescribing in Pakistan
Pharmaceutical marketing through financial incentivisation to general practitioners (GPs) is a poorly studied health system problem in Pakistan. Pharmaceutical incentivisation is seen to be distorting GPs prescribing behaviour that can compromise the health and well-being of patients. We draw on a conceptual framework outlined in the ecological system theory to identify multiple factors linked with pharmaceutical incentivisation to GPs in Pakista…
Antiracism in leading public health universities, journals and funders
INTRODUCTION: Two years since the murder of George Floyd, there has been unprecedented attention to racial justice by global public health organisations. Still, there is scepticism that attention alone will lead to real change. METHODS: We identified the highest-ranked 15 public health universities, academic journals and funding agencies, and used a standardised data extraction template to analyse the organisation's governance structures, leaders…
Incentivisation practices and their influence on physicians’ prescriptions
Focus on profit-generating enterprise in healthcare can create conflicts of interest that adversely impact prescribing and pricing of medicines. Although a global challenge, addressing the impacts on quality of care is particularly difficult in countries where the pharmaceutical industry and physician lobby is strong relative to regulatory institutions. Our study characterises the range of incentives exchanged between the pharmaceutical industry …
The healthcare field as a marketplace
Incentivisation of general practitioners (GPs) by pharmaceutical companies is thought to affect prescribing practices, often not in patients' interest. Using a Bourdieusian lens, we examine the socially structured conditions that underpin exchanges between pharmaceutical companies and GPs in Pakistan. The analysis of qualitative interviews with 28 GPs and 13 pharmaceutical sales representatives (PSRs) shows that GPs, through prescribing medicines…
Doctors taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies is common and not substantially reduced by an educational intervention
INTRODUCTION: Incentive-linked prescribing, which is when healthcare providers accept incentives from pharmaceutical companies for prescribing promoted medicines, is a form of bribery that harms patients and health systems globally. We developed a novel method using data collectors posing as pharmaceutical company sales representatives to evaluate private doctors' engagement in incentive-linked prescribing and the impact of a multifaceted educati…
Caught between violence
box Countries in Africa are grappling with an ongoing multi-country outbreak of the Mpox virus
Healthcare consumers’ perceptions of incentive-linked prescribing
Incentive-linked prescribing (ILP) is considered a controversial practice universally. If incentivised, physicians may prioritise meeting pharmaceutical sales targets through prescriptions, rather than considering patients’ health and wellbeing. Despite the potential harms of ILP to patients and important stakeholders in the healthcare system, healthcare consumers (HCCs) which include patients and the general public often have far less awareness …
Asean and the Covid-19 pandemic
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a state-based membership organisation that facilitates cooperation in Southeast Asia. Over the past two decades, ASEAN has strengthened its cooperation efforts in health, particularly in managing infectious diseases. This scoping review explores the role and response of ASEAN in the COVID-19 pandemic, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension fo…
Asean’s response to mpox
Who is really shaping global health reform?
Same actors, same processes, same outcomes
Medicine (13 works) · Political science (11 works) · Nursing (10 works) · Public health (10 works) · Economics (7 works) · Public relations (7 works) · Business (6 works) · Health care (6 works) · Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy (6 works) · Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare (6 works)