Rethinking science diplomacy for a more equitable public health future

Rethinking science diplomacy for a more equitable public health future Rigorous public health research in the Global South, especially in conflict-affected contexts, depends on trust, reciprocity, local leadership, and culturally grounded evidence, Rasha Bayoumi and colleagues explain. Public health research in fragile and conflict-affected settings is never just about evidence; it is also about power, trust, access, language, and who decide what counts as knowledge. Science diplomacy matters most, not as a slogan about international collaboration, but as the practical work of negotiating how knowledge is produced, whose expertise is recognized, and how evidence becomes credible and usable in unequal contexts. Taken together, the perspectives below show how three Global South researchers practise science diplomacy through adaptation, capacity-building, and redistributing authority in knowledge production.