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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

December 1st is World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day, which was established twenty years ago today, is an effort at spreading awareness about the problem of HIV/AIDS not only globally, but also in local communities. The P&S International Health Organization is sponsoring the event below.

WORLD AIDS DAY
DECEMBER 1, 2008
Hear about the personal, public health, and advocacy aspects of
AIDS in Washington Heights.
6:00 - 7:30 PM
Alumni Auditorium
Columbia University Medical Center
650 W. 168th Street

TO BENEFIT THE WASHINGTON HEIGHTS CORNER PROJECT
MALECON DINNER RECEPTION TO FOLLOW

AIDS IN THE HEIGHTS

Cities all over the country are attempting to spread awareness and explain that HIV does not discriminate. 

Zimbabwe Health Emergency

Hi all,

Zimbabwe is in the midst of a devastating health emergency, and PHR needs your help to urge the US and the international community to take action.

Public health workers in Harare report that due to lack of medicine, equipment, services, and staff, public hospitals and clinics are essentially closed, resulting in preventable deaths and the destruction of families and communities. A cholera epidemic is spreading throughout the country and daily death tolls are on the rise. Fresh water is no longer pumped into urban areas, which will only exacerbate the spread of this infectious disease caused by contaminated water. A doctor at Harare hospital described the situation as a "disaster of unimaginable proportions".

Your colleagues—doctors, nurses, public health leaders, medical students, and human rights activists in Zimbabwe—are fighting for their patients. Hundreds held a protest this week to call for more medicine and supplies for their patients, but were violently dispersed by riot police. Also this week, the government closed the medical school in Harare indefinitely, leaving hundreds of students on the street—and millions of Zimbabweans without the next generation of health leadership.

Please consider signing a petition to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to take decisive action today by following the below link:

Sign Petition

ICAP Symposium on HIV at CUMC

For those interested in how HIV funding may be used to better healthcare systems as a whole, this is very relevant to the HIV topic we discussed last year:

Country directors for the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Program (ICAP) of the Mailman School of Public Health will be meeting on the CUMC campus next week. In conjunction with their visit, ICAP is hosting a symposium,"Expansion of HIV Care in Africa: A Path for Better Health Services for All?" The goal of the symposium is to examine how the scale-up of HIV services has the potential to spur a transformation of healthcare systems with benefits for all patients, not only those who are HIV positive.

 

Linda Fried, MD, MPH, dean of the Mailman School, will make opening remarks.

The program will include presentations by Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, ICAP director, and the following country directors:

 

- Raphael Ntumy, ICAP-Lesotho country director

"Moving from MTCT-Plus toHealth Systems Strengthening in Lesotho"

 

- Amy Cunningham, ICAP-Tanzania country director

 "Bolstering Health Systems through HIV-related Laboratory and Infrastructure Improvements in Tanzania"

 

 

- Zenebe Melaku, ICAP-Ethiopia country director 

"HIV/AIDS: A Catalyst for Establishing New Cadres of Health Workers in Ethiopia"

 

A panel discussion will be moderated by ICAP's David Hoos and Pamela

Collins, assistant professor of clinical epidemiology and clinical psychiatry at the Mailman School.

 

 

When:  Tuesday, November 11

       3 to 5 p.m.

Where: Alumni Auditorium

       630 W. 168th St.

 

All faculty, staff, and students are invited.

Reception will follow.