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October 18, 2011
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Greetings!
Nearly 2 million people die each year as a consequence of poor indoor air quality caused in part by unclean cookstoves. Duke faculty were awarded a new grant to study the factors that influence individual decision making. Read the complete story below. Research on important topics like clean cookstoves can save lives. Are you thinking about expanding your training in global health and gaining skills to become a global health researcher? Join us tomorrow at 5 pm in Trent Hall for an Open House to learn about the Duke's innovative Master of Science in Global Health program. Come for the lecture by Kate McQueen at 4 pm and stay to learn more about the MSc-GH. Until next week, Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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DGHI Receives USAID Award for Indoor Air Pollution Research
The Duke Global Health Institute is one of three recipients of a US Agency for International Development (USAID) award totaling $1.3 million, in which researchers will develop and evaluate interventions addressing indoor air pollution.  Through the Translating Research into Action (TRAction) project managed by University Research Co., LLC, The Duke Global Health Institute, Impact Carbon in San Francisco and Seattle-based PATH will work with local partner organizations in India and Uganda to investigate the factors that enable families to purchase improved clean cookstoves and use them correctly over time. The studies will examine institutions and incentives that promote stove acquisition and use, and develop and test interventions on how best to introduce new stove technologies, change the home environment, and influence individual attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Subhrendu Pattanayak, associate professor of public policy, environment, economics and global health, will lead the Duke research in Uttar Pradesh, India as part of the Duke Cookstove Initiative, which he has helped start on campus. Pattanayak will be working on the project with Marc Jeuland, assistant professor of public policy and global health, and DGHI Associate in Research Jessica Lewis. Half of the world's population cooks with solid fuels on poorly functioning stoves or open fires, primarily using wood or other biomass. Nearly 2 million people, mostly women and children, die each year as a consequence of household air pollution levels that are typically 100 times greater than World Health Organization air quality guidelines. 
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Manoj Mohanan: What Makes Effective Health Care?
Manoj Mohanan works with small armies of researchers who conduct surveys, crunch numbers and analyze large quantities of data to determine if a given health care policy is effective, and why.
Mohanan, assistant professor of public policy and global health at the Sanford School of Public Pollicy and the Duke Global Health Institute, said he's learned over the years that consumer behavior often defies the intention of  health care incentives put in place by governments, foundations and private health care providers.
Why, for example, would a pregnant woman in rural India prefer to pay an informally trained midwife when she could see a formally trained obstetric gynecologist for free? Mohanan's research will aid the government of India, which does provide free obstetric care and large subsidies to pregnant women in different parts of the country. The government's goal is to increase the number of hospital births and reduce the number of often risky home births; and Mohanan's goal is to determine why pregnant women would choose one option over the other. "The idea is not merely to look at the impact of program x, y or z," he said, "but what are the key behavioral factors that lead to the impacts we see or sometimes do not see." In a separate study, Mohanan is working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to determine the effectiveness of social franchising and telemedicine in the Bihar state of India, an impoverished region where, he said, health indicators are often worse than in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
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New Videos Available from DGHI 5-Year Anniversary Symposium
This month, the Duke Global Health Institute hosted "Global Health 2020: Acting Today to Improve Tomorrow," a symposium to commemorate its fifth anniversary. Read more about the milestone event and watch video from all or part of the symposium. The videos are divided into six segments: the introduction, keynote address, three panel discussions and closing remarks. A few segments are featured below; all videos are accessible here.
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Introduction by Drs. Michael Merson & Victor Dzau
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Keynote Address by Dr. Peter Piot
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More videos:
- Panel Discussion #1: Chronic Disease
- Panel Discussion #2: Effects of the Environment on Health
- Panel Discussion #3: Building Capacity to Strengthen Health Systems
- Closing Remarks by Drs. Peter Lange and Michael Merson
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The Global Health Fellows Program in Geneva, Switzerland is Accepting Applications
In the summer of 2012, Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy will bring the eighth cohort of Global Health Fellows to Geneva. Designed to equip graduate students to join in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and  other pressing health challenges, the Global Health Fellows Program will provide students with both an academic and experiential perspective on how intergovernmental institutions, public-private partnerships, and non-governmental organizations shape global health policy. By combining internships and an intensive course on global health issues, the program is a unique opportunity to learn first-hand how global health policy is formulated and implemented.
This past year, 24 graduate students drawn nationally and abroad from schools of public policy, public health, law and medicine participated in the summer experience. Students interned at a wide range of NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, including the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, the Medicines Patent Pool, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, and various programs at WHO.
Applications for the Summer 2012 program are due Monday, November 28, 2011 by 5 pm EST.
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