Shashika Bandara

Biographic Data

ID7581154
NAMEShashika Bandara
GIVEN NAMESShashika
FAMILY NAMEBandara
SIGNATUREBANDARA S
AFFILIATIONSMcGill University Health Centre
ORCID0000-0002-1698-138X
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS21
TOTAL CITATIONS0
AUTHOR COUNT13
EDITOR COUNT8
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2021
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX0

  • Beyond paper walls

    Open AccessShawna Novak, Anahí Venzor Strader et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    Visa inequities in global health have moved from the margins of academic discourse to the centre of a growing reform agenda. While recent literature has established that visa regimes function as structural determinants of global health participation, a critical gap remains: the solution pathways proposed to date remain dispersed across commentaries, editorials and toolkits rather than consolidated into a coordinated operational framework that ins…

  • Same actors, same processes, same outcomes

    Open AccessIndira Dewi Kantiana, Filipa Alpeza et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

  • Challenges in strengthening multi-sectoral action for optimum preparedness and response for public health emergencies in Sri Lanka

    Open AccessMahendra Arnold, Pasyodun Koralage Buddhika Mahesh et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    Sri Lanka is a lower-middle-income island-nation that often contends with multiple public health emergencies (PHEs) such as floods and disease epidemics. In preparing and responding to these PHEs, different units of the Ministry of Health (MOH) take responsibility for the functions of a typical National Public Health Agency in Sri Lanka. This study was done to describe current approaches within multisectoral action and to explore the challenges t…

  • The WHO pandemic agreement—securing Africa’s leadership in a fragmenting global order

    Open AccessNelson Aghogho Evaborhene, Jessica Oga et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2026

    In May 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement, aimed at strengthening global pandemic preparedness and equity. This legally binding treaty emerged from years of negotiation shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic’s stark inequities—particularly those experienced by African nations. While the treaty introduces important innovations, notably the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system, significant challenges remain. …

  • Quantifying household liquid medicine dosing errors in Sri Lanka

    Open AccessManori Jayasinghe, Hasiduni Madhushika et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    Inaccurate measurement of liquid medicines remains a critical yet underrecognized patient safety concern in low-resource settings. In Sri Lanka, despite the adoption of metric units in formal healthcare, the use of uncalibrated household items such as teaspoons and tablespoons remains widespread. Bulk dispensing without standardized measuring aids is common, and dosing instructions often rely on informal household measures. This study assessed th…

  • Economic and econometric methods to measure the illicit tobacco trade

    Open AccessPyi Pyi Phyo, Natalie Walker et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    This scoping review aimed to identify suitable economic and econometric methods for measuring the illicit tobacco trade. We searched six key databases for public health and economics papers (PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, EconLit, ABI/Inform, and Medline), two economic working paper platforms (SSRN and IDEAS), and grey literature via Google and expert-identified articles. Initial screening was undertaken by all authors, with at least three authors condu…

  • Stakeholders’ awareness and perception towards graphic health warning, opportunities and challenges for tobacco control policy in Nepal

    Open AccessNetra Lal Aryal, Binita Kumari Paudel et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Despite the efforts of the Government of Nepal, including the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), including 90% of health risk warnings on tobacco packets, the prevalence rate of tobacco consumption and its mortality and morbidity remain a challenge. This study aimed to explore awareness and perception towards Graphic Health Warning (GHWs), challenges, and opportunities for tobacco control policies amon…

  • Disinvesting in the future leadership of global health has already begun

    Open AccessShashika Bandara, Jane K Fieldhouse et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Following the abrupt and significant funding cuts by the U.S. and increasing retreat by high-income countries from development aid for health, global health as a field requires reimagining and urgent solution building by all parties involved. In this essay, we aim to draw attention to an important and urgent challenge that deeply affects our collective future: the destruction of global health training opportunities and the weakening of future glo…

  • The political economy of tobacco of Zimbabwe

    Open AccessShashika Bandara, Artwell Kadungure et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Tobacco continues to be viewed as a path to economic development by some governments, including Zimbabwe, despite widespread knowledge of tobacco’s negative consequences for users, farmers and the environment. Zimbabwe is one of the top five tobacco producers in the world and the largest tobacco producer in the African region. Zimbabwe’s focus on tobacco production creates difficulties for the implementation of the World Health Organization Frame…

  • Can we unplug global health education from The Matrix

    Open AccessShashika Bandara, Ananya Tina Banerjee et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

  • Short communication

    Open AccessIvaan Pitua, Raafidha Raizudheen et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Memes have become a popular communication tool, especially during public health crises, offering both opportunities and challenges for messaging. This short communication examines the dual role of mpox-related memes circulating since the disease’s declaration as a public health emergency in August 2024. Through a qualitative content analysis of 200 mpox memes shared across major social media platforms, we identified two primary themes: (1) Awaren…

  • Time to control of anthrax outbreaks in Africa, 2014–2023

    Open AccessAlex Riolexus Ario, Esther Buregyeya et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Anthrax is a notifiable zoonotic disease targeted for control in Africa, however, outbreaks due to anthrax are still frequent and large. Surveillance systems should monitor and detect anthrax outbreaks early for prompt response. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine anthrax outbreaks epidemiological investigations gaps and time to control in Africa, Jan 2014-Dec 2023. We searched MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Google Schol…

  • A Critical juncture in global health

    Open AccessAlison Wiyeh, Patience Komba et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has played an important role in expanding access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and significantly reducing HIV/AIDS mortality globally. However, policy shifts in the United States(US) aimed at realigning foreign aid with US national interests have introduced significant uncertainty regarding PEPFAR funding in 2025, threatening to undermine decades of progress in the global HIV/AIDS res…

  • Contextual factors impacting WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control implementation in Africa—a scoping review

    Open AccessShashika Bandara, Masauso Moses Phiri et al.ARTICLEHealth Promotion International2024

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco use causes over 8 million deaths annually including 1.3 million due to second-hand exposure. Furthermore, data from the Tobacco Atlas show that the tobacco industry continues to target new markets in the WHO African region, one of two regions where absolute numbers of smokers continue to increase. Understanding context contributes to policy formulation and implementation ensuring relevance…

  • How to prevent equity efforts from losing steam in global health academia

    Open AccessShashika Bandara, Ananya Tina Banerjee et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2023

    In the wake of the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, there was a strong call to action, first in North America and then globally, to tackle racism and promote racial justice Many universities created "equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism (EDI-AR)" task forces and other mechanisms with goals of transforming institutions entrenched in histories of colonialism and white supremacy. Concurrently, decolonizing global health movements have b…

  • Imagining a future in global health without visa and passport inequities

    Open AccessShashika Bandara, Zahra Zeinali et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2023

    There is a growing and overdue recognition in recent years of visa and passport inequities as a significant barrier to global health education, practice, and participation. These inequities largely impact low-and middle-income country (LMIC) citizens, refugees, and asylum seekers, as highlighted by us, other affected individuals, and advocates for systemic change Examples illustrate a range of challenges including structurally discriminatory bord…

  • Gendering the Political Economy of Smallholder Agriculture

    Open AccessMadelyn Clark, Shashika Bandara et al.ARTICLESocial Sciences2023

    Gender plays a prominent role in shaping the practices and experiences of smallholding farming households. This scoping review seeks to chart and analyze how gender is used in the existing literature on the political economy of smallholder agriculture. The aim of this review is to first identify the extent to which gender is addressed as a unit of analysis in this body of literature, and second, to identify when and how gender is incorporated in …

  • The impacts of donor transitions on health systems in middle-income countries

    Open AccessHanna E Huffstetler, Shashika Bandara et al.ARTICLEHealth Policy and Planning2022

    As countries graduate from low-income to middle-income status, many face losses in development assistance for health and must ‘transition’ to greater domestic funding of their health response. If improperly managed, donor transitions in middle-income countries (MICs) could present significant challenges to global health progress. No prior knowledge synthesis has comprehensively surveyed how donor transitions can affect health systems in MICs. We …

  • Transitioning from donor aid for health

    Open AccessWenhui Mao, Kaci Kennedy Mcdade et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2021

    BACKGROUND: Ghana's shift from low-income to middle-income status will make it ineligible to receive concessional aid in the future. While transition may be a reflection of positive changes in a country, such as economic development or health progress, a loss of support from donor agencies could have negative impacts on health system performance and population health. We aimed to identify key challenges and opportunities that Ghana will face in d…

  • Stronger together

    Open AccessShashika Bandara, Soumyadeep Bhaumik et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2021

    The global increase in COVID-19 cases in 2021 has primarily been due to an uncontrolled surge in South Asia. It is estimated that by 1 September 2021, approximately 1.4 million in South Asians will die due to COVID-19 alone.1 The total number of excess deaths will be much higher—including non-COVID causes, as health systems are on the brink of collapse.2 With 33.4% of South Asians being extremely poor3 and the large-scale loss of livelihood being…

  • Trust, risk, and the challenge of information sharing during a health emergency

    Open AccessRaphael Lencucha, Shashika BandaraARTICLEGlobalization and Health2021

    Information sharing is a critical element of an effective response to infectious disease outbreaks. The international system of coordination established through the World Health Organization via the International Health Regulations largely relies on governments to communicate timely and accurate information about health risk during an outbreak. This information supports WHO’s decision making process for declaring a public health emergency of inte…