Ian Linden on Global Health and Africa

The Berkley Center, WFDD, and Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF) convened an afternoon discussion with Ian Linden, Director of Policy at TBFF. Linden presented and discussed TBFF’s current work, particularly their Faiths Act fellows program, a multi-faith global movement that engages 34 fellows to inspire and mobilize people of faith to take action towards the Millennium Development Goals, with a focus on eliminating malaria-related deaths. An initiative that parallels in many ways the Berkley Center’s Millennial Values Fellows initiative, Linden’s discussion of the Faiths Act program shed light on mutual areas of interest.

Linden and Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center and Executive Director of WFDD, also discussed the recent, jointly undertaken publication entitled Global Health and Africa: Assessing Faith Work and Its Policy Implications, highlighting the findings of this review of literature and experiences on the actual and potential roles of faith communities in responding to priority global health challenges, notably HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and major childhood killers. The WFDD and TBFF joint-review aims to chart and define research gaps and possibilities, focusing on Africa and on issues with links to global health policies relevant to poverty alleviation.

For Ian Linden's reflections on the nexus of religion and development, see WFDD's previous interview with him here.

The reports, separated into a Full Report, Executive Summary, and Background Paper can be accessed on the WFDD Publications page.