UPDATE: Malaria bed nets!

WORLD MALARIA DAY

I'm proud to announce that we beat our record of $160 from last year.

Today, we raised $500 to donate to NothingButNets!

This will provide 50 bed nets, each of which can protect a family of four and will last up to 4 years.  And because they're treated to kill the malaria-spreading mosquitoes, they will help protect not only individuals, but entire communities!

Thanks to all who donated!

If you didn't have a chance to donate and would like to, click on NothingButNets and make your donation by credit card or check.

WORLD MALARIA DAY

Please join PHR for a breakfast to learn about the international health burden of malaria and help provide a life-saving bed net for only $10.

This Friday, April 24th from 8:15-9am, PH 17-201.

Suggested donation: $10 (all proceeds go to NothingButNets)

Last year we collected $160...help us beat that record this year!!

Each year, malaria afflicts approximately half a BILLION people.

Malaria kills more than a million people per year; 90% of those who die are African children.

Every 30 seconds in Africa, a child dies of malaria.

Malaria illness and death cost Africa about $12 billion per year -- this disease is keeping countries poor.

For only $10, we can purchase a bed net, deliver it to a family, and explain its use.  These nets are large enough to fit a family of four and last for up to four years.

The Future of Global Health, with Dr. Sonia Sachs

The final event of this year's Forum on Global Health and Human Rights will be held this Monday, April 27,2009 at the WinterGarden Lobby of the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York at 6pm.  We are lucky to have Dr. Sonia Sachs of the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia Universisty as our speaker!  This promises to be an exciting event and we hope you can make it!

Bangladesh and Arsenic in Drinking Water

The Forum on Global Health & Human Rights presents its next event for the topic of Water as a Human Right vs. Water as a Commodity.

Join us to for the talk "Poison in the Well: Exposure, Effects, and Remediation of Arsenic in Bangladesh" by Dr. Joseph Granziano , Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Pharmacology at the Mailman School of Public Health. 

When: Thursday, April 9
Where: Hammer 404
Time: 6:30 pm

Dinner will be provided!!

Click here to read more about Dr. Graziano's research

Joseph H. Graziano, Ph.D. 
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Pharmacology
Associate Dean for Research
The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
Director, The Columbia University Superfund Basic Research Program 

Dr. Graziano has been a faculty member at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University since 1979, and was Chairman of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health from 1991-2002, when he became Associate Dean for Research.  He was the founding director of Columbia University's NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan.  He is widely known as an expert on childhood lead poisoning, and his laboratory developed the drug (Succimer) that is now widely used to treat this condition. In 2000, Dr. Graziano became the founding director of the Columbia University Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP), entitled Health Effects and Geochemistry of Arsenic and Lead. The Columbia SBRP involves faculty from four schools of Columbia University, and includes geochemistry, hydrology and remediation research at four U.S. Superfund sites, as well as studies of arsenic metabolism and toxicity in families exposed to naturally occurring high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water in Bangladesh.  His most recent research has discovered that both arsenic and manganese exposures are associated with cognitive deficits in children. He is currently a member of the NIEHS Council, and a member of the NIH Council of Councils.

The Right to Access to Clean Water

Thanks to those of you who made it out to our screening of FLOW, a documentary about the world water crisis and the concurrent privatization of the world's fresh water supply.

You can learn more about the information in this documentary by clicking here

Sign this petition to add a 31st article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, establishing access to clean water as a fundamental right.

And watch the video below for more information about this UDHR article.

Ghana Health and Education Initiative

APPLY FOR A SUMMER SERVE & LEARN POSITION WITH THE GHANA HEALTH AND EDUCATION INITIATIVE (GHEI)! 

GHEI is offering five positions in the following three Summer Serve & Learn project sessions:
Session I: Girls' Empowerment, July 1 - July 18
Session II: Prevention of Childhood Diseases through Handwashing, July 19 - August 5
Session III: Treatment and Prevention of Child Worms, August 6 - August 23

To learn more about each project and our organization, please visit our website, http://www.ghei.org

Applications can be downloaded from our website ( http://www.ghei.org), under the "Short-term Opportunity" link on the "Volunteer" page.  Please send all applications to:  volunteer@ghei.org under the subject line:

"SSL09 APP, (your name)"

***The application process is on a rolling basis, so please apply early as spots fill quickly!!!*** 

Thank you for your interest in GHEI
Please direct all questions to Brittany at volunteer@ghei.org

Screening of Road to Ingwavuma with Filmmaker!

The 2nd Annual Forum on Global Health and Human Rights** presents:

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, Barbara Rick, and executive director of Artists for a New South Africa, Sharon Gelman, host a viewing of their documentary, "Road to Ingwavuma, "  a chronicle of  the mission of artists such as Samuel L. Jackson and Carlos Santana as they travel to see the extreme poverty and progress in South Africa in  the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Where:  Hammer 301
When:  Wednesday, March 18th at 7 PM

Food will be provided!

Click HERE for more information on Road to Ingwavuma


**The Forum on Global Health & Human Rights is organized by the International Health Organization and Physicians for Human Rights, with the support of the Clincal Practice Program, AMSA, Lamda Alliance, and the Family Medicine Interest Group. 

Funding for International Health Projects

Come join us for our first event in our module on Funding for International Health Projects:

A Discussion with Karen Schmidt, Deputy Director of the Access Project and Millennium Village Rwanda.

Wednesday, March 11

1pm-1:45pm

Hammer Health Sciences Building, Room 305

Lunch will be provided!

Click here for more information on the Access Project

Call & Response Screening, with Matisyahu

FREE Call+Response Screening and Live Concert with Matisyahu

A Rockumentary About the World's 27 Million Dirtiest Secrets

Thursday, February 26 @ 7:00 pm

Miller Theater - Columbia University (doors open at 6:30pm)

• Matisyahu (Award Winning Recording Artist)
• Justin Dillon

Join us as we continue the conversation on morality, by looking at the modern human trafficking industry.  We'll explore the value and the nature of human beings through music, photography and film.

CALL+RESPONSE (www.callandresponse.com) is a first of its kind feature documentary film that reveals that there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. CALL+RESPONSE goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2007, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.  This is a particularly important conversation for Columbia since thousands of slaves are trafficked through New York. Justin Dillon, creator and director of the film, will be there to talk about the modern day slave trade. The photography project Sex and Money: a Global Search for Human Worth, will also be featured.

Award winning recording artist Matisyahu will kick-off and close the evening with a live concert.

Free tickets will be available at the Lerner Hall Box Office (non-CU ID tickets are limited)

http://veritas.org/columbia/schedule

Humanitarian Crises of 2008

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has just released a list of the 

Top Ten Humanitarian Crises of 2008

Please take a few minutes to click on the link and learn about the biggest crises going on in the world today.

Maternal Mortality Film Screening

Please join us for the first event in our next module, dealing with maternal mortality!

Maternal Mortality Module: Film Screening

Wednesday, February 18th

6:30 - 8 PM

Hammer Rm. 303

Dinner will be served

Join us over dinner to watch a BBC documentary, "Dead Mums Don't Cry," on maternal mortality in Chad, followed by a short discussion and activity.

"Becoming a mother in Africa can be among the most frightening and dangerous jobs in the world. This program investigates why more than half a million women die every year in pregnancy and childbirth.

DEAD MUMS DON'T CRY documents one woman's remarkable struggle to stop mothers in her country from dying. She's Grace Kodindo - an obstetrician in the poverty-stricken central African country of Chad. Women in Chad have a 1 in 11 chance of dying during pregnancy or in childbirth. The risk for women in the UK is 1 in 5100.

Cutting maternal mortality by 75% by 2015 was one of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by 189 countries in 2000. Five years on, progress is far behind schedule - and this film reveals it's slowest on the goals that affect women and children.

But DEAD MUMS DON'T CRY shows there is reason for hope. A few poor countries have succeeded in saving mothers' lives. BBC reporter Steve Bradshaw and Grace Kodindo travel to Honduras, which has cut maternal mortality far faster than some wealthier neighbors. A key reason is that influential men and women cared enough to make the issue a priority."

Please RSVP to fwc2109@columbia.edu

Human Trafficking Events

Physicians for Human Rights presents two events on Human Trafficking:

1.  Film Screening: 

Carissa (20 min) 

Tuesday, February 17th, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. 

Hammer Rm. 310 

Dinner will be served 

 

Carissa is a short documentary about a young girl who was a victim of sex trafficking in Fresno, California. She was able to turn her life around and is now a national spokesperson on the issue of youth homelessness and sex trafficking. Come hear her story. Director David Sauvage. http://carissaproject.com

Free dinner and screening, followed by a short discussion activity. 

 

2. Speaker: 

Florrie Burke*, M.Ed., MA, LMFT 

Wednesday, February 18th, Noon – 1 p.m. 

Hammer Rm. 324 

Lunch will be served 

 

Florrie Burke will be discussing trafficking and modern day slavery, using a human rights approach, and illustrating with cases from NY. She will also address the importance of medical professionals as intermediaries and as responders to trafficked victims' health needs.

**Please RSVP for each event to fwc2109@columbia.edu so there is enough food for everyone.**

*Bio: Florrie Burke, M.Ed., MA, LMFT, is a consultant on Modern Day Slavery to both governmental and non governmental agencies. She was most recently the Senior Director of International Programs at Safe Horizon in New York City where she oversaw both the Anti-Trafficking Program and Solace Program for Survivors of Torture and Refugee Trauma.  She is a founding member and currently the Coordinator of the Freedom Network Training Institute and trains social service providers, law enforcement and government entities across the country.  She has done extensive training and consultation on Human Trafficking issues, trauma and torture both nationally and internationally.  Ms. Burke is a current Co-Chair of the Freedom Network USA, a nationwide group of social and legal service providers working with survivors of human trafficking.  Ms. Burke has served as an Expert Witness on several high profile cases of Human Trafficking.  She is a member of the Expert Initiative on Human Trafficking at the UNODC in Vienna and is part of three working groups developing materials for first responders and others who may encounter Human Trafficking.  Ms. Burke has been working with trafficked persons since 1997 when she designed and implemented specialized social services to sixty deaf Mexicans who were held in slavery in a peddling ring in NYC.  Ms. Burke also designed and implemented a model for Community Trauma Response following the attacks on September 11th.  In 2007 Ms. Burke received the National Crime Victims Recognition Service Award from the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime and was honored by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor and was awarded the Annual Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award by the Freedom Network USA

Global Migration and Development Conference

See below for information on a free conference down at the law school.  It is being run by CUPID, the Columbia University Partnership for International Development.

CUPID'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Development without Borders: Is Migration Good for Development?

Date: Friday, February 13th

Time: 12:30 pm- 7:30 pm

Location: Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, RM 106

Each spring, the Columbia University Partnership for International Development (CUPID) holds a major conference at Columbia University on an international development issue. The conference gathers a multidisciplinary panel of scholars and practitioners from the University and beyond to present and discuss their perspectives. The day-long conference is free and open to all.

This year's conference seeks to evaluate the consequences of global migration on diverse fields such as health, business, education and the environment while also considering what steps should be taken around migration that best supports international development.

Click on the link for more information and to register!

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cupid/Conference.html

CUPID is a student-led effort across Columbia  University to facilitate multidisciplinary dialogue, awareness, and action on

international development. Encouraging a collaborative spirit among students, professors, and alumni with diverse specialties, CUPID aims to explore and demonstrate how a multidisciplinary approach to international development can produce innovative, holistic solutions for disadvantaged populations.

Spend your summer in Egypt!

Marhaba: Volunteers in the Middle East is announcing its 2009 volunteer opportunities. Marhaba offers service-learning programs for college students and recent graduates who want to go beyond a study-abroad experience and truly engage with a foreign culture.

Volunteers in Program 1 will work with St. Andrew's Church to serve the refugee population in Cairo. St. Andrew's provides educational and vocational training for refugees from primarily African countries who had fled their homes due to war or other disaster or who have a well-founded fear of returning due to persecution or loss of rights. St. Andrew's refugee programs are entirely secular and the population served is both Christian and Muslim. Volunteers will assist with programs for children and teens. They will tutor students in preparation for end-of-year exams, serve as teaching assistants, lead some classes in pairs, and/or design a short summer program including trips and fun activities.

Volunteers in Program 2 will teach conversational English classes at Resala, a large development organization led by Egyptian youth. Resala offers a range of programs, including Arabic literacy classes, food and clothing distribution, courses for the blind, and orphanages for street children. Marhaba volunteers will teach young Egyptian adults who volunteer at the centers. Volunteers will work in pairs at different branches of the organization throughout Cairo.

In addition to volunteering, there are several other components of the Marhaba program. Volunteers from both programs will live together and jointly participate in orientation, Arabic classes, seminars, cultural activities, group trips, and a final retreat. Each program will also meet individually for weekly group dinners.

For more information and application details, please see our website at www.gomarhaba.org or email info@gomarhaba.org. Applications due March 1st.

Program dates are June 20 - July 30. Scholarships are available.

Global Health Conference at Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai Global Health Center
presents

International Development and Aid
Controversies and Successes

Saturday March 7, 2009  9:30am

 

http://mssm-ghc.org/conference2009

 

George Ayittey, Economist, Free Africa Foundation 

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.html

 

Alexander Preker, World Bank West Africa

 

Ronald Waldman, USAID advisor, Mailman School of Public Health

 

Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Icahn Institute 
Goldwurm Auditorium
1425 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10029

Registration for the 7th Annual Global Health Conference is FREE, and lunch will be provided.

To REGISTER, please email : global.health@mssm.edu

Doctors Without Borders Lecture

A physician with MSF (Doctors without Borders) will be speaking at Weill Cornell on Tuesday, February 10th at 4pm.  All Columbia students welcome.

Dr. Buddhima Lokuge is a medical practitioner with MSF/Doctors Without Borders in New York. As US manager of the organization's Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, he coordinates nutrition-related policy and advocacy for MSF in the US.  Dr. Lokuge has field experience with MSF in India and Afghanistan, where he ran MSF's malnutrition programs in hte district of Ghazni.

He will speak about MSF's work in areas devastated by malnutrition.  This ongoing crisis contributes to 3.5 to 5 million deaths in children under five each year, and leads to long term disability for many, and poor health and educational outcomes for many more.

February 10th, 4pm

Weill Auditorium

Weill Cornell Medical College

1300 York Ave, NY NY

Seoul Train Documentary Screening

Join Physicians for Human Rights tomorrow evening for a screening of the documentary "Seoul Train," followed by a discussion with the filmmaker!

See below for more information about the event.

More information on Seoul Train

"Seoul Train":: Film screening + meet the filmmaker!!

Date: Wednesday, 2/4/09

Time: 7:00-9:00pm

Location: HSC 301

Please join us for the screening of Seoul Train, a gripping documentary of the life and death of North Koreans as they attempt to escape their homeland and China through an "underground railroad." Although some activists are risking their lives to save these refugees, this potentially explosive humanitarian crisis is exacerbated by scornful international laws, as well as the inaction and bureaucracy of the United Nations. The situation is difficult, but not hopeless - so come and see how you can help these refugees!

The screening will be followed by Korean refreshments and a discussion with the filmmaker.

Global Health Education UPDATE!

We now have the complete text of the Choose Your Own Adventure event by Chase and Ramon!  This event was part of the module on the ethics of global health education.

Click here to view the full document and choose another adventure!

Unite For Sight 6th Annual Global Health Conference

For anyone interested in global health, consider the upcoming conference presented by Unite For Sight, "Achieving Global Goals Through Innovaction" which will be held at Yale University on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19, 2009.  See below for information and links to the full schedule of events and registration.

200 Speakers, Including Keynote Addresses by Dr. Susan Blumenthal, Nicholas Kristof, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Dr. Sonia Sachs, Dr. Al Sommer, and Dr. Harold Varmus. Plus social innovation sessions by CEOs and Directors of Save The Children, Partners in Health, HealthStore Foundation, mothers2mothers, and many others.

What? Join 2,500 people from all 50 states and from more than 60 countries for an innovative, high-impact idea incubator. 
Who should attend? Students, public health professionals, doctors, educators, scientists, lawyers, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and others.  Anyone interested in international health and development, public health, eye care, medicine, social entrepreneurship, nonprofits, philanthropy, microfinance, human rights, anthropology, health policy, advocacy, public service, environmental health, and education.

For the full conference schedule, click here

To register, click here

The Ongoing Crisis in Zimbabwe

Hi all,

I'd like to bring more attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.  The UN has just released estimates that there have been 60,000 cases of cholera, and over 2,800 people have died from this curable condition.  Instead of acting to help his people, the Mugabe regime has sent police to clear teaching hospitals, shut off water for months, and has refused to address the mass starvation of his people.  Earlier in the year, he refused to admit defeat in the general election.  Instead, he has said "I will never, never never surrender...Zimbabwe is mine."  Now Zimbabwe is plagued with cholera, anthrax, and pellagra.  

Over 4 million Zimbabweans have tried to escape to South Africa.  However, on the way countless women and children have been robbed and raped by "gumagumas," and life in Musina, where most of the refugees have settled for now, is not much better than what they have escaped.

Please make an effort to learn about the horrific situation in Zimbabwe by reading a few of the articles I've included below:

Zimbabwe: 'If Cholera Doesn't, Hunger Will Finish Us' (allAfrica.com, 12/8/08)

In Zimbabwe, a Cancer Called Mugabe (Washington Post, 1/8/09)

Desperate Children Flee Zimbabwe, for Lives Just as Bleak (NY Times, 1/23/09)

Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic could top 60,000 cases, UN says (Telegraph, 1/24/09)

If you are able, consider donating to two organizations who have taken the lead in dealing with this disaster:

Medecins Sans Frontieres

Physicians for Human Rights

Spread the word about the situation in Zimbabwe -- the media certainly isn't doing a good enough job.

Be well,

Alex

National PHR Conference in Providence

Hi all,

For any of you who may be interested in health and human rights, consider attending the National PHR Conference in Providence, titled "Health & Human Rights in 2009: Global Problems, Local Solutions."  Registration is $35.  Housing with students may be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Click here for more information.

Measuring the Ethics of Global Health Education

Hi all,

To those of you who came to our "Choose your own adventure" event on Wednesday, 1/14.  If you couldn't make that event, but are still interested in the ethics of getting health education abroad, come to our next event, this Tuesday, 1/20 at 6pm.  See below for a full description of the panel discussion.

“Measuring the Ethics of Global Health Education”

-Thinking of learning abroad?  Do ethical dilemmas keep you up at night?

Come hear Dr. Linnea Capps, head of one of the P&S fourth year International Electives Programs, and Lauren Taggart Wasson, MPH, discuss and debate the ethics of international medical education and our current methods of evaluating these projects.

6:00 p.m. in Hammer 324 on January 20^th.

Food will be served.

Click here to read an article written by Lauren Taggart Wasson.

 Dr. Linnea Capps is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in addition to working as Assistant Clinical Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and Associate Director of the Department of Medicine and director of the residency program at Harlem hospital.   She spends a part of each year working in her community health project in Chiapas, Mexico with Doctors for Global health which is a private non-profit organization promoting health, education, art and other human rights throughout the world.  Dr. Capps works with a small community hospital and health promoter training project in a Mayan indigenous population.  Dr. Capps received her MD from the University of Missouri – Columbia and her MPH from Columbia University.

Lauren Taggart Wasson, MPH, is a medical student at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. Her graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University and work for the USAID- funded POLICY Project focused on international HIV/AIDS.

The P&S Student Forum on Global Health and Human Rights is a partnership between the International Health Organization (IHO) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).  This year, it is graciously co-sponsored by Clinical Practice, FMIG, AMSA and Lambda.

P&S Forum: Your International Elective: An Ethically Ambiguous Choose Your Own Adventure

The P&S Forum on Global Health & Human Rights presents "Your International Elective:  An Ethically Ambiguous Choose Your Own Adventure"

Wednesday January 14 at 12:30 pm, HSC 322

The Forum on Global Health & Human Rights kicks off a new module entitled "The Ethics of Global Health Education."  As the summer approaches, many 1st year medical students will embark on international educational programs.  What are the benefits to these organizations?  Are they doing more harm than good?  Who is truly benefiting from the experience?  How could we measure the benefits and are we?

Do you remember Choose Your Own Adventures? Aren't they awesome?

Lunch will be provided!

Read a provocative article by Monsignor Ivan Illich titled "To Hell With Good Intentions"

Summer 2009 Global Health Internship Opportunity

Happy New Year to all!  Though it seems early, its already time to start thinking about this coming summer!  See below for a great internship for those interested in health in developing countries.

The Global Health Fellows Program (GHFP) is excited to offer international internships for Summer of 2009. These internships fulfill an important program goal: to help develop a diverse workforce of global health technical experts.

Ten interns will be selected to work at community-based organizations in Cambodia, India, and Senegal. In the past, interns have worked with organizations such as Bridges Across Borders, Cambodia Center for Human Rights, and Indias' Rural Development Center. All interns can expect a hands-on experience in the field of global health. For undergraduate and graduate students, and for those seeking a mid-career change, these compensated opportunities can be a crucial first step in gaining overseas experience. The internships are eight weeks long and include pre-departure training in Washington, DC.

Application deadline: March 15, 2009

Internships begin: June 1, 2009

GHFP is working with the One World Foundation to implement the international internship program. For additional information, visit the One World Foundation Website, or click on the application (http://www.theoneworldfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/one-world-2009-application.doc).