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  1. Alliances for Global Health Education: Learning from South/South Collaborations-19th Annual GHEC Conference

    4/9/2010 8:00:00 AM

    1st Latin American and Caribbean Global Health Meeting &
    19th Annual GHEC Conference

     

    Alliances for Global Health Education: Learning from South-South Collaboration. Strengthening the Commitment

     

    Hosted by: The National Institute of Public Health of Mexico

    Dates: 9-11 April 2010

    Location: Cuernavaca, Mexico

     

    The recent events surrounding the outbreak of the new Influenza A H1N1 virus exemplify the vital role that cross-country and regional co-operation play in ensuring global health.   Recent years have seen a renewed effort at regional collaboration.  Additionally, the shape of these collaborations is changing from traditional North-South collaborations, characterized by the one-way transfer of technological and financial resources from developed to developing countries, to a theoretically flatter and dynamic regional collaboration, especially among ‘”southern” (or developing) countries. The numerous examples of these new regional networks include:

    • Ibero-American Ministerial Network for Health Research and Education (RIMAIS)
    • Mesoamerican Institute of Public Health
    • Brazil - African lusophone countries health collaboration
      • Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe
    • Andean Integration System
      • Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador y Peru
    • South Cone Network for Health Systems and Services Research
      • Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina
    • Amazonian Cooperation Treaty Organization
      • Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname

     

     

    This conference will capitalize on the INSP’s strategic location linking Anglophone North American countries and the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean to bring together faculty and students from institutions throughout the Americas to share experiences of creating and fostering alliances for global health education.  This 2010 conference will also serve as the 1st Latin American and Caribbean Global Health Conference, which has the aim of further fostering the discourse related to global health. 

     

    To fulfill the mandate of this initiative, the conference aims to develop a program which reflects the vibrancy and variety of Global Health programs throughout the region, while highlighting the South-South experience in fostering new collaborative mechanisms, using the lessons learned from the emerging pandemic as well as other case studies in the areas of other infectious diseases, maternal health, vaccine-preventable disease, and nutrition (from both perspectives of malnutrition and the growing epidemic of obesity and chronic health problems). This Conference will analyze how South-South  collaborations differ from traditional North-South alliances, examine successes and obstacles to effective functioning of these collaborations and cull lessons that can be learned and adopted by the North. 

     

    The themes that we plan to address in this 2010 conference include:

     

    • The role of institutional alliances in advancing global health education
    • Changing the paradigm of regional cooperation: Are South-South collaborations more horizontal?
    • Ethics and equity issues of collaborations for global health education
    • The advantages and challenges of multi-cultural and cross-cultural collaborations
    • Northern and Southern perspectives on Global Health: arriving at a consensus
    • Development of Global Health competencies: defining the optimal skill set
    • Macroeconomic policies, economic crises and health workforce education: how to feed the demand of developed and developing countries for skilled health care workers
    • Interdisciplinary approaches to global health education: beyond the traditional medical model
    • Content and orientation of global health curricula: regional perspectives

     

    The conference planning committee will particularly seek out abstracts and presentations that address the following cross-cutting issues:

    • Human displacement: migrants, refugees and human trafficking
    • The “Triple Challenge” of epidemiological transition:  infectious disease, chronic disease and accidents and violence
    • Non-communicable and chronic diseases: perspectives from the South and North

  2. Global Health & Innovation Summit at Yale

    4/17/2010 8:00:00 AM

    Global Health & Innovation Summit at Yale

    Unite For Sight is pleased to announce that registration and abstract submission are now open for the 2010 Global Health & Innovation Summit, which will be held at Yale on April 17-18, 2010. You are receiving this message because you registered to attend a past Global Health & Innovation Summit, a conference presented annually by Unite For Sight. Please feel free to forward this announcement widely. 

    The 2010 Summit will inspire and engage all participants to exchange ideas and create change.  The upcoming Summit will focus on the newest ideas in innovation, social investing, and cutting-edge ideas and strategies in global health and social entrepreneurship. Opportunities abound to engage with leading innovators and ground-breaking ideas for change.

    Global Health & Innovation Summit
    The World's Leading Idea Incubator For Global Health Innovation

    A Conference Presented Annually by Unite For Sight
    Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
    Saturday, April 17 - Sunday, April 18, 2010

    Registration Now Open (Early Bird Registration Rate):http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference

    Call For Abstracts: Submit an abstract online at http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference  The first deadline for abstract submission is August 15, and the final abstract deadline is September 15.

    "A Meeting of Minds," --CNN

    200 Speakers in April 2010, Including Keynote Addresses by Seth Godin, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs and Dr. Sonia Sachs. Plus social innovation sessions by CEOs and Directors of Acumen Fund, Partners in Health, WaterPartners, Save The Children, Share Our Strength, Somaly Mam Foundation, The Fistula Foundation, HealthStore Foundation, and many others.

    What? Join 2,200 people from all 50 states and from more than 60 countries for an innovative, high-impact idea incubator. 
    Who should attend?     Anyone interested in global health and inernational development, public health, eye care, medicine, social entrepreneurship, nonprofits, philanthropy, microfinance, human rights, anthropology, health policy, advocacy, public service, environmental health, and education.  Students, public health professionals, doctors, educators, scientists, lawyers, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and others. 

    Confirmed Keynote Speakers

    "Using The Power of Stories and Tribes To Spread Your Message and Change The World," Seth Godin, MBA, Agent of Change; New York Times Bestselling Author of Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us; Founder, Squidoo.com

    Jeffrey Sachs, PhD, Director of Earth Institute at Columbia University; Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University; Special Advisor to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon

    Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, MD, MPH, Health Coordinator, Millennium Village Project

    Confirmed Social Entrepreneurship Speakers

    Scott Hillstrom, Chairman of the Board, CEO and Co-Founder, HealthStore Foundation

    Kevin Jones, Co-Founder, Good Capital

    Nancy Lublin, CEO, Do Something

    Nicholas Lumpp, Cofounder, Somaly Mam Foundation

    Joia Mukherjee, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Partners in Health; Director, Institute for Health and Social Justice; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School; Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities, Brigham and Women's Hospital

    Ajay Nair, MBBS, MPH, Portfolio Associate, Acumen Fund

    Billy Shore, JD, Founder and CEO, Share Our Strength

    Kevin Starr, MD, Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program, Mulago Foundation

    Gary White, Executive Director, WaterPartners

    Andrew Wolk, CEO, Root Cause

    Confirmed Featured Speakers

    Jesus Aguais, Executive Director, Aid for AIDS

    Astier Almedom, DPhil, Professor of Practice in Humanitarian Policy and Global Public Health

    Agbessi Amouzou, PhD, Assistant Scientist, Institute for International Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

    Tom Arnold, CEO, Concern Worldwide

    Jane Aronson, MD, Director, International Pediatric Health Services; Founder and Executive Officer, Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO); Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University

    Bob Bollinger, MD, MPH, Professor of Infectious Diseases and International Health; Director, Center for Clinical Global Health Education, Johns Hopkins University

    Kathleen Casey, MD, FACS, Director, Operation Giving Back, American College of Surgeons

    Luz Claudio, MD, Associate Professor of Community and Preventive Medicine, Chief of the Division of International Health, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

    Paul Cleary, PhD, Dean of Public Health, Chair, Epidemiology and Public Health; Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health, Yale University School of Public Health

    Gustavo V. de Moraes, MD, Research Assistant Professor, NYU School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary

    Prabhjot Dhadialla, PhD, Program Director of Health Systems, Development and Research, Columbia Center For Global Health and Economic Development, Community Health Worker Advisor, Millennium Village Project

    Zoravar Dhaliwal, CEO, Community Lab

    Amir Dossal, Executive Director, UN Office for Partnerships

    Susan Forster, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Medical Studies, Department of Ophthalmology, Yale School of Medicine; Chief, Ophthalmology, Yale University Health Services

    Kevin Frick, PhD, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

    Pape Gaye, President and CEO, IntraHealth International

    Ilene Gipson, PhD, Senior Scientist, Schepens Eye Research Institute; Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School

    Ashifi Gogo, Co-founder, Sproxil; Holekamp Family PhD Innovation Fellow, Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth

    Kate Grant, Executive Director, The Fistula Foundation

    Christopher P. Howson, PhD, Vice President for Global Programs, The March of Dimes Foundation

    Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena, PhD, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

    Kaveh Khoshnood, PhD, Assistant Professor in Public Health Practice, Division of Epidmiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health

    Norman Kleiman, PhD, Director, Eye Radiation and Environmental Research Laboratory, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

    Jamie Lachman, Clowns Without Borders

    Robert Lawrence, MD, The Center for a Livable Future Professor, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Health Policy, and International Health; Director, Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

    Pamela Lynam, MD, Country Director Kenya, JHPIEGO - Johns Hopkins University

    John McGoldrick, JD, Senior Vice President, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

    Mini Murthy, MD, MPH, MS, MPhil, CHES, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Global Health Program Director, New York Medical College School of Public Health

    Ron Nabors, Chief Executive Officer, Christian Blind Mission-USA

    Cliff O'Callahan, MD, PhD, FAAP, Pediatric Faculty, Family Practice Group; Director of Nurseries, Middlesex Hospital; Chair, AAP Section on International Child Health

    Santa Ono, PhD, Sr. Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Academic Affairs, Emory University

    David Oot, Associate Vice President for Health, Save The Children

    Sung Chul Park, MD, Glaucoma Fellow, New York Medical College, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary

    Matthew Paul, MD, Danbury Eye Physicians and Surgeons

    Steven Phillips, MD, Medical Director, Global Issues and Projects, ExxonMobil Corporation

    Maryse B. Pierre-Louis, MD, MPH, MH/HSA, Lead HNP Specialist, Human Development; Coordinator, Booster Program For Malaria Control in Africa, World Bank Africa Region

    Louis Pizzarello, MD, MPH, Secretary General, International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

    Suzanne Rainey, Forum One Communications

    Rebecca Richards-Kortum, PhD, Stanley C. Moore Professor and Chair of Bioengineering, Rice University

    Majid Sadigh, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine

    Sarwat Salim, MD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Tennessee-Memphis

    Georgia Sambunaris, Senior Advisor to the Director, Office of Economic Growth, US Agency for International Development

    David Spiegel, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

    Laura Stachel, MD, Bixby Center for Reproductive Health, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

    John E. Tedstrom, PhD, President and CEO, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC)

    James C. Tsai, MD, Robert R. Young Professor and Chairman, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine; Chief of Ophthalmology, Yale-New Haven Hospital

    Sheila West, PhD, El-Maghraby Professor of Preventive Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

    David Zakus, BSc, MES, MSc, PhD, Director, Centre for International Health; Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation; Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada

    Derek Yach, Vice President of Global Health Policy, PepsiCo

     

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University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, Ghana

July 09 2008

by: Kathryn Wheat

Located in Ghana's capital city, Accra, The University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) is one of four medical schools in Ghana. It attracts students from all over Ghana, as well as from nearby countries (20%) such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, and even countries such as Russia. UGMS is associated with Kirle-Bu Teaching Hospital, which also has schools for dentral training, the allied health sciences, nursing, public health and research. It has every department of a hospital we might be familiar with in the U.S. The medical school education, however, is slightly different. From "high scholl", students to directly to medical school, their first two years being premedical sciences at a site away from Korle-Bu. The next two years are preclinical sciences, and the following three years are clinical rotations. Korle-Bu itself is a large enclosed area in Accra, with administration buildings, inpatient and outpatient facilities, labs, radiology, eye and dental clinics, as well as housing for students and much of the faculty and health workers if they so choose. However, medical students will go beyond the walls to do rotations at two other teaching hospitals in Accra, as well as nearby villages and communities as part of a "Community Health" rotation.

Korle-Bu and UGMS work to meet th needs of the country, near and far. Korle-Bu is a referring hospital, so unless desperate, most patients have been referred from clinics in Accra, or as far as middle or northern regions. Malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis are common causes of morbidity and mortality, as well as diabetes, heart disease, and kidney and liver disease. Ghana ranks 1365 out of 177 (United Nations Development Programme, 2008) on the Human Development Index, and the average life expectancy is 56 for males and 58 for females. Infant mortality rates are 52.31 out of 1000 live births, and the maternal mortality rate is 540 out of 100,000 live births. Ghana's current population is 23 million, with a GDP per capata of $2,540 (2006). The health care system is slowly changing to meet the needs of the population and allow better availability and access to medical services and medications. There are national insurance plans under which most citizens can obtain coverage-there is no income cut-off. In further discussion with students, I also learned that there are private insurance companies for which you pay higher premiums, but receive coverage on a broader range of services and medications. The details of the plans are too lengthy to go into for this report, but suffice it to say that despite these plans, there are still people with limited access to care and no funds to pay their share of medical bills, no matter how small.

A particular case that stood out to me was a man in his forties with a history of diabetes mellitus Type !!.He was constantly having hpyo-hyperglycemic episodes, despite taking his insulin and checking his blood sugar regularly. he was a cassava farmer in the Volta region (extends north and south on the eastern border of Ghana), had enough to eat, and said he was being compliant with medication and monitoring. After more investigation, the doctors noted that he had postural hypotension and bouts of diarrhea, leading to the conclusion that he had autonomic neuropathy. This can happen as myelin and/or axonal damage occurs. the interesting and/or questionable aspect is how he will learn to manage this, considering his daily vigorous physical activity to make a living, and that in the farmland of his region, the hospital is not nearby. During the course of my stay he was in the hospital for three weeks - that is three weeks away from home, family, and productivity, plus any medical costs he ensued. His diagnosis took several days, and then before discharge, he must show a stable blood sugar. Additionally, he will have to be taught how to monitor his situation and act accordingly should another episode occur. This, and his diarrhea, are very important to his life and health, and I hope that in his home he will have access to the appropriate regimen and care for his condition. Further, this case makes me consider the other cases that are out there, unattended to, and/or where the person isunable to access care in a timely manner, or find the appropriate medications or counseling to improve the quality of life. This is what frustrates me most.
                                                            Kathryn Wheat SOM 2011, Ghana 2008

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