Decolonising global health: beyond ‘reformative’ roadmaps and towards decolonial thought

In March 2021, Khan et al published a commentary titled ‘Decolonising global health in 2021: a roadmap to move from rhetoric to reform’ in BMJ Global Health.1 To our knowledge, under the decolonising global health umbrella, this is the first publication to make explicit how to move from theory to practice. However, we express concern over the prescriptive nature of this commentary, namely in its call for ‘metrics,’ ‘checklists,’ and a ‘map’—unironically all tactics that have been and are used by colonisers to assert violence. In this commentary, we directly respond to Khan et al and join the larger discussion on what it may mean for decolonising global health to move from theory to practice. First, we address the definition of decolonisation in decolonial thought, followed by the definition used by Khan et al. Second, we critically deconstruct the suggested “roadmap,” and conclude that these “reforms” will not realise the definition of decolonisation. Finally, we suggest conceptual frameworks that may be better suited to think through decolonisation in the global health industry.