Google Scholar & Orcid ID

Ana Lorena Ruano is a sociologist with a PhD in Public Health from Umeå University, Sweden. Currently, she is a researcher at the Center for International Health at the University of Bergen, Norway, where she leads the ‘Strengthening Agency & Learning across Health Systems in the Americas’ (SALHSA) project focused on building capacity among early-career academics, civil society and policy and decision-makers from Latin America’s relevant public health bodies.

 

As a practitioner, she serves as the Research and Learning coordinator at the Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Health Systems, (CEGSS) Guatemala, where she focuses on how institutional learning can help to better support indigenous human rights defenders in the rural highlands of Guatemala. Dr Ruano’s work uses a human rights-approach to the study of equity in health, indigenous health, maternal health, health system strengthening, participation, and accountability in low and middle-income countries.

She is the Editor-inChief for the International Journal for Equity in Health and serves in this position since January of 2023. Previously, she served as the Managing Editor (2009-2022). The journal has a 2023 Impact Factor of 4.8 and is placed in Q1 for the Health Policy and the Public Health, Environmental, and Occupational Health categories. 

Main collaborating countries:

• Guatemala
• Colombia
• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Ecuador
• Mexico
• Ethiopia
• Uganda

Main areas of work:

• Health Systems and Policy Research
• Primary Health Care
• Social participation
• Citizen-led social accountability
• Legal empowerment
• Indigenous people's health
• Qualitative methods

 

I teach at the masters and doctoral level and are deeply involved in the development of skills that are equally useful for academics, policy & decision makers, and practitioners. My focus is on teaching qualitative methods, both at CIH at UiB and at Charité Medical University in Berlin, Germany. I also focus on developing skillsets for practitioners in global health through the Center for International Health's internship program.

Through SALHSA, I also train Latin American students in Spanish. Please look at the project website for more information on teaching in Spanish.

Academic article

• Bærøe, Kristine; Arnason, Vilhjalmur; Jansen, Maarten et al. (2025). Pandemic and Crisis Preparedness and Response: Conceptualizing Cultural, Social and Political Drivers of Trustworthiness and Collective Action. (external link)
• Tayebi, Safiyeh; Jabed, Md. Akib; Ruano, Ana Lorena et al. (2024). Stakeholder perspectives on landslide triggers and impacts in five countries. (external link)
• Ødegaard, Christine Henriksen; Ruano, Ana Lorena; Blindheim, Anne Alnes et al. (2022). How can we best help this patient? Exploring mental health therapists’ reflections on medication-free care for patients with psychosis in Norway. (external link)
• Beyene, Misrak Getnet; Zemedu, Theodros Getachew; Gebregiorgis, Azmach Hadush et al. (2021). Cesarean delivery rates, hospital readiness and quality of clinical management in Ethiopia: national results from two cross-sectional emergency obstetric and newborn care assessments. (external link)
• Schaaf, Marta; Kapilashrami, Anuj; George, Asha et al. (2021). Unmasking power as foundational to research on sexual and reproductive health and rights. (external link)
• Taye, Girum; Ruano, Ana Lorena; Bailey, Patricia E. et al. (2021). Availability and distribution of human resources for emergency obstetric care services in Ethiopia. (external link)
• Mulumba, Moses; Ruano, Ana Lorena; Perehudoff, Katrina et al. (2021). Decolonizing health governance: A Uganda case study on the influence of political history on community participation. (external link)
• Hadush, Azmach; Dagnaw, Ftalew; Zemedu, Theodros Getachew et al. (2020). Triangulating data sources for furtherlearning from and about the MDSR inEthiopia: a cross-sectional review of facilitybased maternal death data from EmONCassessment and MDSR system. (external link)
• Friedman, Eric A; Gostin, Lawrence O; Maleche, Allan et al. (2020). Global Health in the Age of COVID-19 Responsive Health Systems Through a Right to Health Fund. (external link)
• Dasgupta, Jashodhara; Schaaf, Marta; Contractor, Sana Qais et al. (2020). Axes of alienation: applying an intersectional lens on the social contract during the pandemic response to protect sexual and reproductive rights and health. (external link)
• Friedman, Eric A.; Gostin, Lawrence O.; Maleche, Allan et al. (2020). Global health in the age of COVID-19: Responsive hhr_final_logo_alone.indd 1 health systems through a right to health fund. (external link)
• Hernández, Alison; Ruano, Ana Lorena; Hurtig, Anna-Karin et al. (2019). Pathways to accountability in rural Guatemala: A qualitative comparative analysis of citizen-led initiatives for the right to health of indigenous populations. (external link)
• Zemedu, Theodros Getachew; Teshone, Aster; Tadesse, Yared et al. (2019). Healthcare workers’clinical knowledge on maternal and newborn care in Ethiopia:findings from 2016 national EmONCassessment. (external link)

Editorial

• Steyn, Petrus S.; Boydell, Victoria; Contractor, Sana et al. (2024). Social accountability and sexual and reproductive health—implications for research and practice. (external link)
• Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Nambiar, Devaki; Kirkby, Katherine et al. (2023). The many revelations of and about inequality data in the context of COVID-19: introducing a special issue on COVID-19 and inequality. (external link)
• Hosseinpoor, Ahmad Reza; Nambiar, Devaki; Kirkby, Katherine et al. (2022). The many revelations of and about inequality data in the context of COVID-19: introducing a special issue on COVID-19 and inequality. (external link)
• Vilar-Compte, M.; Pérez-Escamilla, R.; Ruano, Ana Lorena (2022). Interventions and policy approaches to promote equity in breastfeeding. (external link)
• Uribe, Manuela Villar; Escobar, María Luisa; Ruano, Ana Lorena et al. (2021). Realizing the right to health in Latin America, equitably. (external link)
• Ruano, Ana Lorena; Rodríguez, Daniela C.; Rossi, Pablo Gaitán et al. (2021). Understanding inequities in health and health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: a thematic series. (external link)

Academic lecture

• Ruano, Ana Lorena; Maceira, Daniel; Quintero, Enrique Peñaloza et al. (2023). Inequities in health and health systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. (external link)
• Velando, Pierina Alexandra Benavente; Ruano, Ana Lorena (2021). Identifying viable policies for including Venezuelan refugees and migrants into the Peruvian health system. (external link)
• Ruano, Ana Lorena (2021). Including breastfeeding equity enhancing interventions in global research. (external link)
• Nickel, Nathan; Ruano, Ana Lorena; Vilar-Compte, Mireya et al. (2021). Interventions and Policy Approaches to Promote Equity in Breastfeeding. (external link)

Book review

• Ruano, Ana Lorena (2022). David S. Dalton and Douglas J. Weatherford (eds.), Healthcare in Latin America: History, Society, Culture (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2022), 317 pp.. (external link)

Reader opinion piece

• Shadmi, Efrat; Chen, Yingyao; Dourado, Inês et al. (2020). Health equity and COVID-19: global perspectives. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

Google Scholar profile

Publications in PubMed

• Strengthening Agency & Learning across Health Systems in the Americas (Principal investigator)

• "Improving implementation and operation of a One Health platform to combat rabies in Malawi” with Veterinærinstituttet. (Leader of a Work Package)

• "Can community health workers contribute to strengthen health systems in Latin America?" with the Dept of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Sweden