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AMSA Global Health Scholars '08-'09

AMSA Global Health Scholars '08-'09 Discussion Forum

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ljanneck

Fifth reading: Assistance, protection, and governance networks

Discussion Forum

Category: General Discussion

Apr 6 2009, 12:04 PM EDT by pafrancis

alizawaxman

Advocacy Event: HIV/AIDS Youth Program Launch, South Africa

Advocacy and Educational Events

Category: General Discussion

Mar 25 2009, 8:44 AM EDT by alizawaxman

sezaeh

Educational Event and Advocacy Efforts In Progress

Advocacy and Educational Events

Category: General Discussion

Mar 22 2009, 10:22 AM EDT by DHaisch

Thread started: Mar 6 2009, 7:51 AM EST Watch

With the AMSA convention rapidly approaching, I thought I would post a quick update on the progress of my educational and advocacy events. For my educational work, I have written a teaching case study regarding mental health and psychosocial services for youth in post-conflict Sierra Leone. For context, Sierra Leone suffered from an eleven year Civil War that ended in 2002 (think Blood Diamond). Today, the country remains among the poorest in the world and has a lack of general health infrastructure (leading to extremely high maternal and child mortality rates). Youth are among the most vulnerable populations - many lack basic education (due to the large number of years the country was at war) and remain unemployed.

The case asks students to think about issues that impact post conflict countries like Sierra Leone and consider where mental health and psychosocial services for youth fit within the system. With my adviser at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Theresa Betancourt, a preliminary version of the case was taught one week ago to a class of approximately 20 students at HSPH. The discussion seemed to go well, though it highlighted various issues which need to be addressed as I continue to revise the overall product. When I have finalized the case, I am happy to post it to this website and hear feedback!

My advocacy work continues along the youth in post-conflict theme. I am currently working with a team from the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research regarding the development of a set of teaching materials specifically concerning the needs of youth in various post-conflict settings. The project is in its beginning stages, but I see it as a powerful way to teach professionals who are heading off for work in the field about the importance of youth concerns in post-conflict settings.

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Educational Event and Advocacy Efforts In Progress
By: DHaisch, Mar 22 2009, 10:22 AM EDT

Since February, I've been working on putting together a multidisciplinary panel to have a substantive discussion about refugee health. We're planning to bring in a physician who works in international emergency medicine, a lawyer who works with UNHCR and international refugee law, someone who is developing emerging technologies for use in the field, and perhaps a journalist who has reported on the situation of refugees in the developing world. Because of coordinating all of these schedules, things have been coming together more slowly than I'd hoped, but we're really excited to see it happening. As we narrow the topic and refine our list of questions for the panelists, I'll definitely update here.

The advocacy event is much smaller--just a small-group discussion planned with the Social Medicine Reading Group here. Interestingly, it's been a challenge to find an article within the medical literature for discussion. It seems that explicit consideration of advocacy as a part of the physician's role is lacking in much of the literature (at least as far as PubMed is concerned!), as well as within our curriculum. My hope is that our discussion will spark our thinking on the subject and be an impetus for us to seek out opportunities here in New York.

As for the paper, I've actually shifted away from the standard consideration of refugee health (cholera outbreaks among people displaced by political conflict, for example) and have written about the impact of the first-world system on the health of incoming "economic refugees," focusing on migrant workers in the US. One of our professors is currently reading it, and I'll be working with one of my classmates to edit it and submit it for publication.

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ljanneck

Fourth reading: Humanitarianism sacrificed (page: 1 2)

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Category: General Discussion

Mar 22 2009, 9:55 AM EDT by DHaisch

Thread started: Feb 6 2009, 10:26 PM EST Watch

http://www.cceia.org/resources/journal/18_2/special_section/003.html

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Fourth reading: Humanitarianism sacrificed
By: DHaisch, Mar 22 2009, 9:55 AM EDT

As for the humanitarian side of it, Torrente makes the point that, “Political, socioeconomic, and other conditions define a framework of possibilities [for humanitarian action], and political, socioeconomic, and other consequences of taking action must be taken into account….” This point brings me back to Gourevitch’s book, and I wonder to what extent these consequences can truly be anticipated by outside groups coming into a foreign situation. He goes on to point out that “the delivery of humanitarian aid in wartime conveys values of humanity and fraternity that are communicated to all parties in a conflict and hence play a key role in the construction of a meaningful peace.” Though I agree with this hope, I wonder if the changing face of conflicts makes this valid. With increasing resentment of Western values in some conflict areas, I doubt that our involvement would necessarily be understood as promoting “humanity and fraternity.” Rather, it might be understood more frequently as propaganda or simply not be seen as enough to make up for past evils.
Finally, I appreciated his call for a new class of aid agencies that associate themselves with governments and the “international agenda” to articulate the principles—since they cannot claim neutrality and independence—that guide their “politicized humanitarianism.” These agencies are currently walking the line, using principles from each side as they are convenient; however, this trend blurs distinctions between government and humanitarian that are difficult to re-establish and could erode trust in the neutrality of humanitarian organizations that are truly neutral.

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kgand001

Advocacy Event: Speaking Out Against Genocide

Advocacy and Educational Events

Category: General Discussion

Mar 12 2009, 10:39 AM EDT by kgand001

Thread started: Mar 12 2009, 10:38 AM EDT Watch

Throughout the course of this program, I have come to appreciate, even more, the class, race, and socioeconomic divides that keep many persecuted populations isolated and neglected to the point of peril. The reality that politics often trades wealth and comfort of a few for death and suffering of many, as was depicted very vividly in Gourevitch’s account of the genocide in Rwanda, is something that we cannot afford to accept. For this reason I chose to focus on genocide in my advocacy project. As future physicians, and health care professionals, we have been taught that there is nothing more worthy of preservation than human life. I believe we have a responsibility to accomplish this through our professional skills, as well as through our compassion.

My event, entitled “Speaking Out Against Genocide”, consisted of a series of presentations on past and current cases of genocide around the world, and I asked the students in attendance to reflect on the presentations and write a letter to President Obama and his administration to use their influence in world politics to put a stop to genocide. There were a total of 5 presenters, including myself, who were volunteers from nursing, graduate, the medical school. Each presenter was responsible for covering important aspects of one of five cases of past and present genocide including: Bosnia, Darfur, Rwanda, Northern Uganda, and Sri Lanka. The format of the presentations varied from short video clips to posters and photographs with text. The event was held in a large atrium on campus so people were able to visit each of the presentations and explore them at their own pace over the course of 2 and a half hours.

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Zhenya.Krapivinsky

Advocay Event - Caring for survivors of torture and the asylum process

AMSA Global Health Scholars '08-'09 Home

Category: General Discussion

Mar 12 2009, 1:45 AM EDT by Zhenya.Krapivinsky

Thread started: Mar 12 2009, 1:44 AM EDT Watch

For my 1st advocacy project (to take place on March 23rd At Tufts – for all you New Englanders who want to come out and support me) I am hosting an event at Tufts Medical School for students, residents and physicians centered on 1) the medical care of immigrant survivors of political torture and 2) the asylum-seeking process in the US.

A little background - I became interested in this topic my second year at Tufts when I got involved with the Asylum Network from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). This group of doctors helps medically/legally evaluate persons seeking political asylum in the US, many of whom have been tortured. As I went out on several "asylum" evaluations with PHR's docs and as I met refugees in family medicine clinic, I realized that I did not have the requisite clinical skills to evaluate or even approach such patients. I now believe that content and skills regarding the medical, psychological, ethical, and legal aspects of evaluating and caring for torture survivors needs to be incorporated into our undergraduate medical curriculum. I have thus invited the deans and physicians in charge of the psychosocial curriculum at my school to the event with the hopes of convincing them to incorporate this topic into the 1st and 2nd year lectures as well as into the 3rd/4th year clinical experiences.

In addition to “general advocacy”, part of the evening is specifically targeted towards physicians and residents who may be interested in volunteering with the Asylum network. To my surprise Massachusetts actually has a shortage of available physicians to do asylum evaluations and hopefully this event will inspire some attendees to join the network. The head of PHR’s Asylum network will be there to head the recruitment.

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Racheljean16

Educational Event and Community Project

Discussion Forum

Category: General Discussion

Mar 11 2009, 9:11 PM EDT by Racheljean16

Matias.Iberico

Sudan, the ICC, refugees and neutrality

Discussion Forum

Category: General Discussion

Mar 5 2009, 11:39 AM EST by Matias.Iberico

Thread started: Mar 5 2009, 11:39 AM EST Watch

Today I read that Sudanese president Omar al-Beshir has expelled 10 "foreign relief agencies" from Sudan. His administration points a finger at leaders of the USA and Europe as the "true criminals" and paints the ICC and the UN Security Council as instruments of "neo-colonialism." Quite obviously these actions leave thousands of vulnerable people in a very perilous situation. More importantly (academically speaking) this is evidence to me that neutrality as we are discussing it extends beyond the simple independence of individual aid organizations from governments and is really a moot point in the international arena. Unequivocally aid comes from the west and as long as there isn't a broader base of operations aid will be used as a tool by tyrants to manipulate what we (humanitarians) are trying to achieve to their ends. The knife that Beshir and his allies hold over humanitarian heads is like so: "Threaten me and the people will suffer." As long as he has the support of his people and allies who feel the same way about aid and power (or, in China's case, threat to their oil trade) we will not disarm this weapon.

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drlc

International Medical Education Confernences, Resources, Links

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Category: General Discussion

Mar 5 2009, 11:05 AM EST by Matias.Iberico

Thread started: Mar 4 2009, 2:26 AM EST Watch

email me at igme@shaw.ca to receive the full listing!

Spring 2009 Education Summit located in San Diego, CA April 29-May 3:
http://www.kintera.org/site/c.lgISL3PHJrH/b.4695939/k.BF93/Home.htm
*******
Summer in Europe: This is an international exchange program for medical student
program for anyone that's attending medical school in the New England area. Feel free
to contact with any questions about this program at vpolshin@gmail.com
*******
American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) would like to
invite you to attend their annual professional conference in San Diego, April 24 – 29,
2009: www.acoem.org
*******
USPHS Scientific and Training Symposium set for June 1-4 in Atlanta, ore than 1,000
public health providers and administrators will be attending! Half- and full-day preconference
sessions on Sunday, May 31 will provide in-depth training in critical skill sets,
leadership and more: Georgia: http://www.phscofevents.org/
*******
1st International Student Medical Congress Košice, Slovakia in June 23rd-25th 2009:
http://www.lf.upjs.sk/ismck/index.php
*******
EuRegMe VI/NCM, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, April 2-5, 2009: EuRegMe is the gathering
point of the European NMO of the IFMSA: WWW.EUREGME.AMSB.ORG
*******
Emergency Medicine Conference-Buenos Aires: May 21 & 22, 2009: Palais Rouge,
Buenos Aires: Argentina: www.emergencias.com.ar
*******
The 4th UP GLOBAL HEALTH COURSE: April 13-18, 2009: Silungan, Morong, Rizal,
Philippines: http://globalhealthcourse.org/
*******
The 6th International Congress for Medical Students and Young Doctors
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION is 15th of March 2009: www.congressis.ro

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drlc

International Medical Education Programs and Scholarships

Discussion Forum

Category: General Discussion

Mar 4 2009, 2:21 AM EST by drlc

kgand001

Educational Event: Film Screening and Discussion

Advocacy and Educational Events

Category: General Discussion

Feb 19 2009, 9:57 AM EST by kgand001

sezaeh

Third reading: Gourevitch book reflection (page: 1 2)

Discussion Forum

Category: General Discussion

Feb 18 2009, 10:59 AM EST by kmckeegan

Thread started: Jan 2 2009, 5:17 PM EST Watch

In We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families, Philip Gourevitch weaves together a compelling set of interviews and experiences to explore the events of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. We can critically examine the humanitarian aid response in Rwanda to better understand the unintended consequences which may arise from well intentioned humanitarian relief.

Rwanda’s genocide in 1994 was an event largely ignored by the international community. Throughout the months of Tutsi extermination in Rwanda, the world largely “stood around with its hands in its pockets” according to President Kagame. There was little media coverage of the killing of 800,000 Rwandans (mostly Tutsis), and countries throughout the world failed to consider the necessity of intervention. In July 1994, however, the humanitarian aid community was prompted to action when two million Hutus fled to Zaire after the RPF gained control of Kigali.

As humanitarian workers aimed to quickly provide essential services to Rwandans living in camps, the Zaire refugee camps began to form hierarchies similar to those of the Hutu Power state in Rwanda. Humanitarians were “treated rather like the service staff at a seedy mafia-occupied hotel,” explains Gourevitch. “…Their services effectively made them accessories to the Hutu Power syndicate.” The humanitarian community failed to act against Hutu power as they did not acknowledge the underlying political forces at play and attempted to maintain neutrality. Camps quickly became harmful as Hutu raiders stationed at camps became participants in guerrilla warfare, crossing over the Rwandan border to attack genocide survivors.

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Third reading: Gourevitch book reflection
By: kmckeegan, Feb 18 2009, 10:59 AM EST

Somalia is held up as humanitarianism gone awry, a reason not to get involved in other country’s crises. The events there contributed greatly to the resistance of the international community to label events in Rwanda genocide, and, by their own rules, become obliged to intervene. I think (perhaps it’s a hope) that at least some of the UN/U.S. hesitation grew not from cowardice or cold-heartedness, but rather from an inability to offer any kind of solution. How do you go about subduing an entire populace? How can you prevent some neighbors from killing others when, as even Gourevitch points out, members of the two sides are impossible to tell apart? The same problem currently plagues the U.S in Iraq. Military interventions, as we currently conceive of them, require too many troops and run a high risk of those troops behaving no differently than those they were sent to subdue. They become part of the problem.

One answer to this problem may be to make a better effort to stop conflicts—particularly those with the odor of genocide—before they start. As Gourevitch makes clear, Rwanda had a long history of violence and the writing on the wall in 1994 was very clear. In this particular case, political or tactical interventions such as halting radio broadcasts or removing weapons stockpiles might have dampened some of the sparks. But that’s only a start. The idea of ‘never again’ is a radical one, and to enforce it will require radical changes in how the world polices itself. Ultimately, if the international community is serious about a commitment to universal human rights and security then we need more thorough ways to protect them. I am not a political expert, but I believe that the choice between inaction and ineffective action—which is what we faced in the 1990s—is a false one. We must find another way. As citizens and humanitarians, we must push our leaders to find another way.

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Paul.Johnson

Photography Contest

Publication Opportunities

Category: General Discussion

Feb 11 2009, 7:53 PM EST by Paul.Johnson

alizawaxman

UNAIDS Event in Khayelitsha, South Africa

Discussion Forum

Category: General Discussion

Feb 11 2009, 1:31 PM EST by alizawaxman

Thread started: Feb 11 2009, 1:30 PM EST Watch

I am currently working for the American International Health Alliances HIV/AIDS Twinning Center in South Africa. I am currently working with Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation system that can be sustained by the grandmothers as well as assisting them in accessing more sustainable funding. Below is a piece I wrote for our website:

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RE: UNAIDS Event in Khayelitsha, South Africa
By: alizawaxman, Feb 11 2009, 1:31 PM EST

On February 8, 2009, ten GAPA grandmothers and three GAPA staff members attended the visit by the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr. Michel Sidibe, hosted by the Treatment Action Campaign and Médecins Sans Frontières at the Ubuntu clinic in Khayelitsha, to honor his inauguration and visit to South Africa.. There was a panel of speakers including Barbara Hogan, the health minister of South Africa, as well as HIV positive members of the Khayelitsha community who spoke about the anti-retroviral treatments they had been receiving from the local Ubuntu ARV clinic.

Dr. Sidibe came to South Africa to learn first hand about the scope of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, some of the programs and responses, and to better understand the successes and future challenges that are faced by HIV/AIDS programs in South Africa. The event was primarily informed by the local Khayelitsha community, which has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in South Africa. In 2007, antenatal HIV prevalence was 30.2%, and 31% of all adults on antiretroviral therapy in the Cape Town metropolitan area are treated in Khayelitsha. The TB incidence rate reached nearly 1,600 per 100,000 in 2006, and TB/HIV co-infection is close to 70%.

The panel representative from the Treatment Action Campaign turned to the health minister and boldly stated: “When Barak Obama was inaugurated he stated that surely it was an exciting historical moment, but there was a huge task ahead for the USA. Well, Ms. Hogan, we may have achieved great success in the rollout of ARV therapy, but we have a long way to go!” This statement elicited a roaring !isXhosa! cheer from the crowd. It was a powerful statement, reminding all that many people in South Africa and worldwide still do not have access to treatment, a right that is stipulated in the UN Millennium Development Goals. But there is hope. And at this particular event, hope was radiating from the community.

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Paul.Johnson

Educational Event- HIV/AIDS in Mozambique

Advocacy and Educational Events

Category: General Discussion

Feb 7 2009, 9:07 PM EST by Paul.Johnson

Jonkanev

Med opportunities in Ghana

Discussion Forum

Category: General Discussion

Feb 5 2009, 5:07 PM EST by Jonkanev

Racheljean16

another book