Roojin Habibi روژین (she/elle)

What $50 Billion for U.S. Foreign Affairs Changes for Global Health | Think Global Health PEPFAR's former chief of staff describes how new legislation marks a turning point for U.S. foreign assistance

For those tracking U.S. global health policy: this piece unpacks how the new 50B foreign affairs package reshapes funding, priorities, and leverage under Trump. Short but illuminating read - even if a tad optimistic in my view.

🔗 www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/what...

Huge thanks and hearty congratulations to the ever thoughtful and brilliant @matiangai.bsky.social, together with Kriti Sharma, for their leadership, insightful editing, and vision in curating the “Global Health at a Crossroads” symposium.

Glad to contribute to this symposium alongside colleagues whose work continues to push our understanding of global health governance in new and necessary directions.

📑 Explore the rest of the symposium at:
lnkd.in/ewZ4SkB2

While I see PHECS as a vital assertion of regional agency, I caution that, without stronger legal and procedural safeguards, it could inadvertently reproduce the very fragmentation, opacity, and crisis-driven logic that have long plagued global health emergency governance.

I also take a critical look at the PHECS mechanism itself, noting how its open-ended legal basis and ad hoc criteria risk making future declarations vulnerable to shifting politics and personalities rather than clear, agreed rules

I argue that this authority is both an expression of continental agency and ownership in global health, and a way of reshaping debates about what counts as a “global health emergency” and who should be making that call.

The piece situates Africa CDC’s relatively recent power to declare a “Public Health Emergency of Continental Security” within an increasingly crowded landscape of international alert systems.

Pleased to share my new open-access essay in @ajil.bsky.social Unbound: “What Is a Global Health Emergency, and Who Should Decide? Africa CDC’s Declaration of a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security in a Crisis-Ridden World.”

🔗 lnkd.in/eshVATHU

A belated first post of 2026 to say…hi, hello and it’s been a while. I’ve enjoyed being a bit on the outskirts of socials last year - saying less and listening more.

Will try to be incrementally more active on here in coming months - if only to post doggie pics and to say happy long weekend!

Or reimagined

360 Ottawa | A Perimeter Race Get your team together for 360 Ottawa, 2025! 360 km (ish) relay race around the perimeter of the city of Ottawa. Registration opens soon.

Detour from posting about health and foreign policy

In my not-work life, I run and hike and explore.

This June: We're organizing 360 Ottawa. A race around the entire perimeter of #Ottawa.

Team relay. Whole city. Slightly unhinged. Very fun.

Registration's open.

Come run with us. DM for details.

This sounds awesome Jason! Will try to make it out.

Can't make it to the launch event in person? You can watch the livestream here: www.youtube.com/live/0hD5r_4...

Very nice to see old #GlobalHealth advocates and colleagues @nschwalbe.bsky.social and @roojinhabibi.org taking about the politics of #pandemic preparedness during the @mcgillspgh.bsky.social Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab (PERL) launch.

Deep thoughts about the state of the world at the PERL launch: "Maybe the withdrawal of the US from bilateral structures, and the increasing reliance on bilateral agreements, is lifting the blanket and showing us the state of how things have been for a long time".
@roojinhabibi.org
#GlobalHealth

🌍 Manqué la conférence sur l’OMS?

👉 La synthèse est disponible!

🎙️ Avec @roojinhabibi.org et @cyncouette.bsky.social, cette conférence a permis d’aborder les grands défis actuels de la gouvernance mondiale en santé.

📝 Thao Hoang-Lucquet vous propose une synthèse complète.

👇 À lire

🙏 Merci à @roojinhabibi.org et @cyncouette.bsky.social pour leurs analyses sur l’avenir de l’OMS 🌍

Retrait des États-Unis, financement mondial et traité sur les pandémies : une discussion essentielle pour la santé globale 🧬

👏 Merci à toutes et tous pour votre participation !

Next Tuesday, Global Health Law Research Director @roojinhabibi.org will be sharing her thoughts on the future of the World Health Organization. The event is free and hybrid. Register here: www.cirgom.ulaval.ca/form/inscrip...

Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Important article by @timbousquet.bsky.social today in @halifaxexaminer.ca (as well as linked oped by Kate Ashley of Acadia + @aawayne.bsky.social) about very troubling move by NS govt decision to hire a private consulting firm to evaluate university performance.

Congratulations to Gitxaala Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation for their win today at the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Gitxaala v British Columbia (Chief Gold Commissioner), 2025 BCCA 430. - OK... Friday, December 5, 2025 OKT congratulates Gitxaala Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation for their win today at the British Columbia Court of Appeal in Gitxaala v British Columbia (Chief Gold Commission...

For their 1st legal memo, my 1Ls always consider a constitutional matter involving Aboriginal law. Invariably, I ask them to pay attention to UNDRIP, esp. in light of domestic implementation acts.

This from BC Court of Appeal will be essential reading next year.

www.oktlaw.com/gitxaala-nat...

🌐Event
📅NOV 20
🕦11:30

📽️🎞️ #FilmScreenings & #Discussion 🎞️📽️

On #InternationalChildrensDay, HRREC is pleased to partner w/ the #Reconciliation & #Decolonization Committee (RDC) & the #SocialJustice #SpeakersSeries at @uocommonlaw.bsky.social to welcome Ms. Alanis Obomsawin!

RSVP ➡️ bit.ly/3LPeCTu

The Canadian Yearbook of International Law is looking forward to hosting its Young Scholars Workshop at the University of Ottawa, and to attending the CCIL Annual Conference on Nov. 13th-14th.
site.pheedloop.com/event/ccilcc...

…and so ends the saga of these celebrity ostriches.

African Public Health Conference Calls For 'Health Sovereignty’ And Prioritizing Primary Care Ahead Of G20 - Health Policy Watch DURBAN, South Africa — The “Durban Promise”, the ambitious outcome document of the Conference of Public Health In Africa 2025 (CPHIA) will be on the

The Durban Promise, outcome of #CPHIA2025, sets out bold priorities for Africa’s health future:

💉 Local manufacturing
💰 Innovative financing
🦠 Pandemic readiness
📊 Data ownership
🏥 Stronger primary health care

As global funding declines, leaders insist: “Health is sovereignty.”

📖⬇️ & 🙏🔁

Devastating to see this Cat 5 hurricane barreling towards Jamaica. Hope all are able to evacuate and find shelter.

TOMORROW! "Making the Technical Political: The Long Road to the Pandemic Agreement" w/Roojin Habibi
🕛 Time: 12:10 - 1:20 PM
📷 In-Person: Weldon Law Building, Room 104 dal.ca/faculty/law/
@schulichlaw.bsky.social

Félicitations à la professeure @roojinhabibi.org, qui a été nommée directrice de recherche du programme de droit de la santé mondiale nouvellement lancé au Global Strategy Lab (laboratoire de stratégie mondiale) @gstrategylab.bsky.social @ottawahealthlaw.ca w.ca

En savoir plus : bit.ly/3JgQpEH

Congratulations to Professor @roojinhabibi.org, who has been appointed as the inaugural Research Director of the newly launched Global Health Law Program at the Global Strategy Lab @gstrategylab.bsky.social. @ottawahealthlaw.ca

Learn more: bit.ly/4om44ZX

What Would it Take for Bird Flu to Go Pandemic? How H5N1 could make the jump and what we can do to stop that

A lot of people have been making claims about H5N1 being on the verge of “going pandemic.”

We don’t that, or how or if a pandemic with H5N1 would occur.

But we do know what the virus would need to do & there are ways we can stop it.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/what-would...

Incredible opportunity for an emerging researcher in global health law 👇🏼