Six months ago from a distant hilltop I viewed the ISIS-held city of Mosul, where one-million civilians are captive. Five days ago began a long-anticipated military campaign by Iraqi and Kurdish forces to retake the city. As the bombs drop and bullets fly, whose lives are at highest risk? By far, it is the […]
ISIS poses violent threat to life and liberty. This is well known. CNN in December 2015 estimated that over a two-year period ISIS killed some 1,200 people in Iraq and Syria. But another far greater threat looms: Collapse Of Mosul Dam. Built on the Tigris River in the early 1980s, the unstable ground underneath
From the highest point in Duhok – northern Iraq’s and Kurdistan’s largest city – I am viewing the city of Mosul just 40 miles to the south. Mosul fell to ISIS 21 months ago, and the status of Mosul citizens is illustrated by the vast tent cities which lie between Mosul and Duhok. Tens of
“We lived our entire lives in Mosul – the ancient city of Nineveh – Jews, Christians, Muslims all side by side in peace. Then entered ISIS, threatening us with death or conversion.” The woman began swelling up with tears. “We were forced to flee, leaving all our belongings behind – animals, cars, clothes, books
“Sure, we Greeks have economic problems,” my cousin’s voice turns emphatic, “but these people, they have nothing at all.” Visiting my family in Athens this week, I’m touched by the personal expressions of compassion. “Some of the refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria are housed in Piareas – the Athens port. My friends
You and I and most of our international neighbors share a common passion: increase people’s healthy years of life. But so very many factors are involved: cultural differences, low resources, economic interests, political disagreement, armed conflicts, profiteering… All this weighed heavily upon me as I labored to identify a simple but effective model for
This week I am in Glendale CA, near Los Angeles, for the in-classroom section of the INMED International Public Health Hybrid Course. International public health is one of the most inspiring of fields, for its objective is prevention disease and disability among our world’s most vulnerable people. Whenever we speak of eliminating polio, combating
In recent years the annual Nobel Prize in Medicine has focused on awards for high-tech applications; like development of CT imaging and mapping of the human genome. This year’s Nobel Prize shines light in a distinctly different arena: advances against some leading diseases of extreme poverty. In 1985 I first traveled to Niger
Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning “the state of being apart,”, or rather “apart-hood.” It was a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the dominant governing party from 1948 to 1994. But apartheid in various forms continues to exist throughout the world, most often based upon language, culture, race,
Health status in Turkey today is similar to that of many emerging nations – ones like China, India and Argentina where recent economic gains are accompanied by increases in physical well being. Contrasted with the world’s poorest nations, in Turkey today death and suffering from infectious diseases and mother-newborn complications are now largely controlled.