Opinions & News
Global researcher Dr. Thoai Ngo on “Growing Up in Uncertain Times”
The world’s largest-ever generation of adolescents and young people is facing an increasingly complex global landscape against the backdrop of rising social and economic inequality. These young people are grappling with building back from COVID-19, the intensifying climate crisis, rising conflicts, and swiftly changing tech and digital spaces, among other issues. I’m honored to be the third Michael Sherraden Lecturer at the Global Social Development Innovations (GSDI) center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work.
The Radical Potential of Education
Three Key Principles for Equitable Education Systems from a conversation with Stacey Abrams, Torbjörn Pettersson, Karla Rax, David Sengeh, and Thoai Ngo.
Population Council
The Roots of Gender Inequality Grow Deeper Than Technology Can Reach
Gender equality requires more nuanced approaches, investment in intersectional feminist-led solutions, and a focus on underlying social norms.
Population Council
Demographic trends and population health: tackling inequality in a world of eight billion people
The health risks of climate-related crises and disasters are amplified by demographic trends that include urbanization, population aging, displacement of communities, and exclusionary city design. Inclusive, sustainable, and safe city design must be a cornerstone of any climate-focused development policy.
BMJ Global Health
The high potential of deep learning for forecasting the spread and burden of infectious diseases in general, COVID-19 in particular needs urgent attention.
Journal of Urban Health
To Protect Access To Medication Abortion In The US, Make The Misoprostol-Only Regimen A Reality
“Moving forward with a misoprostol-only regimen for medication abortion would have tremendous impact on access to care, especially for pregnant people forced to cross state borders to receive treatment. The effort will require private sector commitment and ambition, input from advocates and activists, and expert advice from medical professional bodies, all brought together by the Biden administration’s determination to live up to their goals. If our nation is truly committed to protecting abortion access in America, it should pursue adoption of the misoprostol-only regimen. “
Health Affairs
Bad COVID Public Health Messaging Is Blocking Our Path To A “New Normal”
We know far more about how to treat COVID and mitigate the risks than we did two years ago. But we have failed to translate this knowledge into clear messaging capable of prompting collective action to move us toward a “new normal.”
Scientfic American
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States: Where is the data on race?
Our trend analysis elucidates that #COVID19 hospitalization rates for people of color have been consistently higher compared to their counterparts throughout the pandemic. Racial disparities widened during the #Omicron surge. As policymakers move to prioritize hospital admission as the primary metric to track the pandemic, an equity lens is urgently needed to prioritize data surveillance and public health policies that focus on marginalized populations, particularly for people of color. #healthequity
BMJ Global Health
To Slow The Spread Of COVID-19, We Need To Bring Back The Swiss Cheese Model Of Pandemic Response
In this Health Affairs Forefront article, I argue that it's time for the Biden administration to bring back the "Swiss Cheese Model," a systems approach that builds layers of defense to mitigate adverse effects and prevent deaths, to reset its #COVID19 strategy in light of the #Omicron variant.
Health Affairs
The gendered and public health consequences of anti-Asian racism in America
The rise of Anti-Asian violence disproportionately hurts Asian women and racialized gender-based violence has a massive impact on public health. #StopAsianHate
BMJ Global Health
Rethinking the role of demographers in times of crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic presents demographers with an opportunity to ask important questions about the future of this field. What is the role of demographers in this moment? And how can that role evolve to provide relevant real-time guidance to decision-makers?
Population & Development Review
Tackling the U.S. Coronavirus Data Catastrophe
A year into the pandemic, the US is still failing to capture and analyze basic COVID-19 data and equity indicators in a consistent and comprehensive way, resulting in a fragmented and incomplete data system. We made recommendations for the Biden-Harris administration.
Think Global Health
In-Person Research During COVID-19: A Call to Action
As the COVID-19 pandemic shapeshifts, the question of whether, where, and how to resume in-person data collection has generated collective action among public health experts and social scientists.
IAPHS - Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science
Bridging Health Gaps With Inclusive Urbanization
Cities are leaving behind their youngest and most vibrant residents. It is time to reimagine and embrace an inclusive urbanization approach that can be integrated into global health policies to harness the energy of urban youth and help create inclusive, healthy, prosperous, and sustainable cities.
Think Global Health
Two Hundred Thousand and (Not) Counting
The United States recorded an additional 100,000 COVID-19 deaths in the last three months, bringing the country's grim toll to 200,000 American lives lost to coronavirus. The U.S. failure to collect social and community data hampers efforts to control COVID-19 and to address health inequity.
Think Global Health
The World Is Your Oyster: Advice for PhD Students Considering Non-Academic Jobs
PhDs are graduating with more choices both within and outside of academia than they had two decades ago. It is possible to move back and forth between academic and non-academic jobs–the keys are publishing, fundraising, and collaborating.
IAPHS - Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science
One Weak Link and the Whole Thing Falls Apart
The haphazard U.S. approach to COVID-19 data reporting and analysis is a weak link in the country’s coronavirus preparedness and response chain. A more structured, uniform, and comprehensive U.S. approach is needed to collect, report, and analyze coronavirus data
Think Global Health
We Need a Pro-Poor and Pro-Black Response to COVID-19
COVID-19 has proven to be much more deadly among Black and Latinx populations. Concentrate testing in poor Black and Latinx neighborhoods now and plan for an equitable distribution of future vaccines
Think Global Health
Ensure access to high-quality abortion care during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to reshape our lives and health systems, Kelly Blanchard and I urged governments to deploy self-managed abortions as a vital strategy to combat the spread of coronavirus while ensuring access to safe and essential health services
Thomson Reuters Foundation News
Stemming HIV in adolescents: gender and modes of transmission
The HIV/AIDS community is paying increasing attention to the estimated 1.8 million people younger than 15 years living with HIV globally. This attention needs a gender lens.
The Lancet
How to Give Adolescent Girls Voice, Choice, and Control
A framework for designing and implementing programs that center around girls’ diverse needs (such as saving money and preventing unintended pregnancy) and address multiple determinants of risk (such as social isolation or school drop-out).
SSIR
The prevailing policy approach to promoting open data in the natural and social sciences – "if you mandate it, they will share" – is not working. To bring about change, researchers themselves must embrace data sharing, which means ensuring that they have the right information and incentives.
Project Syndicate
Transforming the Lives of 600 Million Girls through Evidence: An Interview with Dr. Thoai Ngo
As a researcher, I strongly believe that open data allows us to work together much more creatively and effectively to innovate and deliver the best outcomes for girls.
Chicago Policy Review
Giving girls the skills and knowledge they need to become productive women who can participate in the twenty-first-century economy empowers them in all aspects of their lives. It is the right thing to do for global development – and for girls and women themselves.
Project Syndicate
In the news
Ngo stresses importance of supporting youth worldwide during lecture at School of Social Work
“Ngo has helped develop a formula that gives children a chance to choose their own path while giving them better access to health, education and critical thinking skills that will not only suit them in the near term, but over the course of their lives.”
UNC News
Pandemic Fatigue Could Cause Problems For Public Health
"My main worry right now is that because of how we operate, we will erode trust from people in public health institutions," Ngo said. "We will make it harder for us to control and manage the current epidemics: COVID-19, monkeypox, polio and future epidemics."
NEWSY
CDC's New COVID Rules Mark Change in the Pandemic, How We Live
I spoke with WebMD about how the new CDC COVID-19 guidance is an example of the agency giving up on the pandemic.
WebMD
I sat down and discussed my idea behind A3, how it can help decision-makers invest smartly in the 1.8 billion adolescents, and what’s next.
GIRL Center
The UN estimates the world’s population will hit eight billion this Fall
I spoke with with Ben O’Hara-Byrne of Global News Canada on the implications of the world’s population reaching 8 billion.
Global News
Double Agents in Global Health
“I approach my work in #globalhealth with a keen awareness of the instinctive resourcefulness of the global poor and a mind-set of the infinite possibilities they are capable of imagining”
Forbes
Readers' global wishes for 2022
See refugees differently: There are millions of refugees and displaced people around the world. International migration can be harnessed as an engine for economic progress as it introduces new talent and workforce for aging societies as well as social and cultural vibrancy. I wish host countries would understand the long-term positive social and economic progress refugees have on their society by investing in them.
Goats and Soda, NPR
The key to improving women’s health in developing countries
“Ngo urges massive investments in health and education for girls in developing nations, as well as greater access to contraception so women can control the size and structure of their families.”
AXA
The Disruptive Potential of Feedback
“We need to build “right-fit” evaluation systems, focusing on collecting credible, actionable data in a timely way–that is, feedback to help an NGO change course if needed.”
Nonprofit Chronicles
6 tips for designing programs to better serve girls
“…We need to invest more in high quality and rigorous research in order to better understand what works and what doesn't work to help guide investment, program, and policies, Ngo said.”
Devex
Burnout, A Silent Crisis In Global Health
In summary, as Thoai Ngo eloquently put it, “the global health workforce is our number one asset during Covid-19 and beyond; now more than ever, we need to invest in their well-being for the long run.”
Forbes
Families May Be Apart For Thanksgiving This Year, But Connections Burn Bright
Because we're making the sacrifice for this holiday [during COVID-19], but we will get to see each other for many more holidays to come.
Morning Edition, NPR