“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.
Child birth is both beautiful and dangerous. Well known and still tragically common are the direct causes of maternal deaths: hemorrhage, infections, obstructed labor, and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. But there also exist birth-related disabilities; ones not causing death near the time of delivery, but leading to extended incapacity and suffering not only for
“Experiencing Zambia really changed my life!” Betsy Rogers is animated on her return after three weeks teaching Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) in southern Africa in association with Tiny People Matter. “We taught HBB in several settings. My favorite experience was teaching outside under trees with a slight breeze blowing, to village birth attendants for whom
This promotional line from The Birth Planning Centre is representative of an entire industry built around the desire to birth children of a particular sex, usually male, and a particular genetic makeup, usually flawless. Gender biased sex selection is pursued on the premise that any deviation from the desire will result in killing that
Fierce was the competition leading up to selection of this year’s Time Person of the Year. Runners up included Chinese business entrepreneurs, Russian politicians, Kurdish leaders, and even St Louis street protesters. But striding out front – on par with Pope Francis, 2013 Time Person of the Year – is this year’s winner “The