“Health is political,” stated Sofia Gruskin, Director of the USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and Distinguished Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Law at USC, at ‘The Global Healthcare Crisis’ session held on May 9, 2024, at the Human Rights and Humanitarian Forum in Los Angeles, California. Speakers also included Aloe Blacc, Co-Founder of Major Inc., recording artist, and biotech entrepreneur; Mary Beth Powers, CEO of CMMB; Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health; and Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners in Health. The discussion was moderated by Alice Park, Senior Health Correspondent at TIME.

The event began with a keynote address by Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, who reflected on past healthcare challenges revealing both humanity’s strengths and weaknesses and teaching us invaluable lessons about resilience and the need for continuous improvement in our systems. “We look back at the COVID-19 pandemic with much to answer for. Though brutal and unexpected, there were many opportunities to do things the right way and truly put the human beings first. The extraordinary speed of the production of safe and effective vaccines for the COVID-19 showed that, in fact, there is capacity to respond timely in the face of some of the greatest challenges to humanity,” emphasized Dr. Mofokeng.