About Sophie Huddart
Dr. Sophie Huddart is a TB epidemiologist and postdoctoral scholar at UCSF. I'm interested in TB quality of care, especially how it influences the long-term outcomes of TB patients post-treatment. I also enjoy exploring how advanced analytic techniques and simulation can address scarce data issues in global health.
Recent Comments
Obviously you girls must have been partying when the immunology class was explaining the concept of adjuvants.
Dr. Simon, this is a highly inappropriate comment. We're not girls, we're your scientific colleagues. We're happy to discuss why we don't believe the short term action of adjuvants will yield long term protection against COVID-19. Scientific discourse should be free from discrimination and degradation.
Thank you for a provocative post and for linking useful sites (especially donortracker.org).
The one element of your argument with which I would contend is the presentation of this as a comparison of "Canada" vs "you," when in fact you (and me) are a part of Canada. Using this same rationale we could, if we so chose, also take McGill, Montreal, and Quebec to task for contributions that are lower than their/our respective "gross [whatever] incomes." Now that I think of it, that might be a good exercise - please do let me know if you're interested.
The reason I highlight the presentation of the individual versus the collective is because it makes space for the many loud voices to shout "Exactly! It's up to individuals! Reduce my taxes so that I can donate where I want!" (the exclamation points are consistent with the energy that I've heard from *actual people* when making this same claim)
I agree with your point that Canada can and should do more. Given the extent to which we're beneficiaries of neo-colonialism, I think it's fair to say that it's not even a matter of "should." Regardless of the frame of reference, I fully support your conclusion. And I would be happy to discuss or debate the messaging that brings us closer to realizing that same conclusion.
(I'm sure you noticed on donortracker, the estimate on Canada's 2017 contribution is even weaker than the amount you cited - not a positive trend)
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Shaun. I used myself as an example to drive home how very little a 0.26% contribution towards international aid is but I definitely see how that leaves me open to the potential response you mention. I'll keep that in mind when I argue this point in the future. I certainly agree with you that Canada should be doing more for many reasons, not least the benefits we've extracted while leaving other countries and peoples worse off.
It would certainly be interesting to see how sub-national bodies spend their money in regards to international research and aid but it'd be a little tricky. I think the official development aid definition only holds at the federal level.