User:Montanabw/Alanna Shaikh

Alanna Shaikh, MPH is a global health consultant, development specialist and part time poet. She has worked for NGOs, contractors, the US government and a UN agency in charge of global health programs in East Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Shaikh co-founded a woman owned policy consultancy, Tomorrow Global, LLC.

Shaikh is also an experienced science communicator, having written artiles and a book to aid the public understanding of health related science, as well as being a Senior TED Fellow who has spoken in many TED conferences. In March 2020, David Duncan highlighted for Vanity Fair that it was regretable that the world had largely ignored a plea Shaik made in her 2012 book What's Killing Us, where she said the world should "Prepare, Prepare, Prepare" for the next pandemic.

Career
Raised in Syracuse, New York, Alanna was interested in international development from an early age, and was insprired in part by her involvement as a child with a local chapter of the Model United Nations. She describes aid work as in the broadest sense being about "trying to help everybody in the world reach a healthy and happy standard of living - about giving people the opportunity and potenial to live fulfilling lives".

Alana received her Bachelor of Science in 1996 from Georgetown University's school of Foreign Service. Between degrees she travelled overseas engaging in volunteer work, including an intership at Cairo. She returned to the U.S. to pursue a MPH which she received in 2001 from Boston university. Shaikh then moved to Uzbekistan for another internship, and shortly after received her first offer for a paid job. Since then Alanna has worked for various UN affiliated aid agencies in Uzbekistan and neighboring Turkmenistan. Between 2006 and 2008 she returned to the United States to work for International Medical Corps and Macfadden in Washington DC, before going back to central Asia to work in Tajikistan, including a stretch at its capital Dushanbe. In 2015, she moved back to Cairo. Later, she moved again to Colombo in Sri Lanka. In addition to working for major health & development organisations such as US State Department, USAID, Abt Associates, Project HOPE and International Medical Corps, she has co-founded and is a principal consultant for the woman owned policy advisory boutique Tomorrow Global, LLC

Public engagement
While much of her early work focussed on issues relevent to developing countries, Shaikh has also given health related advice on topics of interest to audiences in the advanced economies. She is a senior Senior TED Fellow. Topics she has spoken on inlcude the declining effectiveness of antibiotics and on preparing for Alzheimer's disease.

Pandemic response
Shaikh published a book back in 2012 which included advise that soceity should "Prepare, Prepare, Prepare" for the next pandemic. In March 2020, shortly after the outbreak of the coranovirus pandemic, David Duncan suggested in Vanity Fair that it was a shame the world had ignored this warning, listing Shaikh alongside a few other "Cassandras" who had made similar warnings, like Larry Brilliant and Bill Gates. In 2018 & 2019 she co-wrote articles publicising the Disease X concept. She presented a TEDs talk in March 2020 titled Coronavirus is our Future​, which attracted over 20 million views.

Advice for aid workers
In addition to working directly on achieving good outcomes in the fields of health and development, Alanna provides gudiance for those wishing to make a contribution to Humanitarian aid. She co-founded both AidSource (a social network for aid workers) and SMART Aid (which helped educate donours and start up projects working in development.)

The New York Times has noted Shaikh's widely distributed advice that those wanting to help out after the 2010 Haiti earthquake would be do better to send money rather than goods, and only to volunteer in person if they have relevant medical expertise. Alanna has written more generally about the challenges in the field of international aid, and on how such difficulties can be overcome by the courageous. Shaikh has noted for example that the field of international development can be very competitive for new entrants; with sometimes a thousand applicants even for unpaid internships, when only ten vacancies exist.

Personal life
Alanna met her husband while studying in the US. He is also an aid worker, specialising in Conflict resolution. Several times he has given up posts when Alanna has needed to move to another country due to her work, and on another occasion Alanna has been the one to follow husband when his job required a change of location. The couple have two boys. Shaikh occaisonally writes poetry, which has been published in periodicals such as Examined Life Journal, the Crab Creek Review, and the Moon City Review.

Publications

 * Shaikh, Alanna. What's Killing Us: A Practical Guide to Understanding Our Biggest Global Health Problems, Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2012