|
December 6, 2011
Subscribe
Archive
|
|
Greetings!
Regular readers of DGHI News & Notes know that students are at the heart of global health programs at Duke. Perhaps you have been inspired by the stories, photos and blog posts our students share. We've just launched a new opportunity for you to support the work of our students. Watch this video and make a contribution so more students have the opportunity to engage in global health and work to reduce health disparities around the world. We're grateful for your help!
DGHI Talk of the Week: Monday, Dec. 12 at 12 pm, "The Integrated Approach to Develop in Resource-constrained Settings" by Sonak Pastakia, assistant professor, Purdue University College of Pharmacy. Also on Monday the annual DGHI Holiday Party. We hope to see you at the Knight House from 4-6 pm.
Finally, don't miss the last DGHI Journal Club of 2011, next Tuesday at 12 pm. The topic: The Politics of Health- What is good governance?
Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
|
|
|
|
|
Invest in the Future of Global Health
DGHI Campaign Supports Duke Students Bringing Change to Communities Around Globe
"I'm thankful that Duke is investing in me as a student and I hope to do the same for the many that follow," said Duke Master of Science in Global Health student Victoria Kyerematen, who recently returned from Ghana where she completed field research on women's mental health.  | |
Duke Student Audrey Hu and her Ugandan community partners share how DGHI fieldwork has impacted them.
|
Victoria paid it forward. Our students are making a difference. Imagine what our world could be if more students had the chance to undertake life-changing fieldwork, and be inspired to continue this work throughout their careers. The possibilities are endless. This holiday season, you can pay it forward by investing in the future of global health. The Duke Global Health Institute has launched Support the Future of Global Health through Dec. 31 to support student fieldwork and research, and the communities they serve. As Paul Farmer said during his inspiring talk at Duke last Saturday, "My final message to our students, get involved early." Together, let's help our students become compassionate, informed and globally-minded leaders of tomorrow. Let's support their efforts to bring important change to low-resource communities around the world, and the contributions they can make with community partners to reduce health disparities. With your help, we can give more students the opportunity to experience global health, not from a Duke classroom, but by being completely immersed in communities across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, India, Costa Rica and in North Carolina. "My fieldwork experience through the Duke Global Health Institute has been incredible. I have grown as a person. I am definitely going to take everything I've learned back to Duke and apply them to my life and academics, and in my future career," said Duke student Ally Santini. She and her team worked in a small Ugandan village where the community partners expressed their gratitude for Duke's involvement and for the students who bring new ideas and energy.  Let your donation be your voice of support this holiday season - support for the unmatched value of global fieldwork and research offered at the Duke Global Health Institute. Learn more. 4 Ways to Add Your Voice:
Step 1: Donate today! The campaign lasts through Dec. 31. Step 2:Share this important campaign with your friends and families on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Email. |
|
The Paul Farmer Way of Life
Partners in Health Founding Director Discusses Post-Earthquake Haiti at Duke
By Duke Research
 | |
Watch complete video from Farmer's talk, including a Q & A session with the Haiti Lab professors Deborah Jenson and Laurent Dubois.
|
One of Duke's most distinguished alumni and one of global health's biggest names, Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, discussed his latest book " Haiti After the Earthquake" at Duke on Saturday afternoon. So, what should Duke students take from this individual who just like us lived in Wannamaker, wrote for the Chronicle, and once roamed this Gothic wonderland? "Start as early as you can." Upon graduating from Duke in 1982 with a BA in medical anthropology, Farmer spent a year in Haiti: a decision that would help him become the kind of physician he always imagined himself as and would help him uncover his lifelong passion. Farmer then returned to Harvard University (which he humorously referred to as "the Duke of the North") to obtain his MD and PhD in medical anthropology. Now, Dr. Farmer is Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Kolokotrones University Professor, one of the highest honors that can be granted to a faculty member. He has been awarded the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize and the MacArthur Foundation Genius Award for his work. "We must counter failures of imagination." Just five years after leaving Duke, Farmer co-founded Partners in Health (PIH), an international health organization committed to improving health care in developing countries. This nonprofit organization focuses on building sustainable health care systems rather than simply treating patients. However, Farmer believes that their biggest challenge lies in breaking the cycle of poverty and disease. And, in essence, helping the Haitian community imagine a world where these hurdles can be overcome. 
Also, see pictures from the event. |
|
|
Med Students Get Extra Dose of Global Health in Week-long Course
 Global health and health policy are the topics on tap this week as nearly 100 second-year Duke medical students participate in Health Policy and Global Health Week, an effort to bring awareness to the overlapping nature of medicine with global health and policy.
During the required School of Medicine course taking place through Friday, students will hear from Duke faculty and researchers whose work ranges from research, ethics, human rights, determinants of disease, international disaster response, cancer and HIV/AIDS, to health system design and pharmaceutical marketing.
"This program is a great way for medical students to work as a team to look at health disparities in the world and try to understand what it takes to eliminate or reduce them," said Dennis Clements, lead faculty coordinator, pediatrican and Senior Advisor of the Duke Global Health Institute. "Good health requires a lot more than medicine, and this week is an attempt to illustrate that fact."
In addition to lectures and faculty presentations, students will engage in small group activities in sessions facilitated by Duke faculty. Throughout the week, they will work to design the health system of either Eastern North Carolina or Kazakhstan and then debate the finished product as the final activity.
Fifteen faculty members, affiliates and adjunct professors of the Duke Global Health Institute are participating in the program.
|
| |
HIV Epidemic in the South Reaches Crisis Proportion
The Southeastern United States is experiencing the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS infections, says the executive summary of a research report released Tuesday by The Southern HIV/AIDS Strategy Initiative (SASI).
The report takes a close look at nine southern states that have been particularly hard hit by the epidemic in recent years: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and (East) Texas.
"With the highest rates of both new HIV diagnoses and HIV-related deaths in the country, as well as poor social determinants  of health and high poverty rates, the South faces an urgent need for resources to fight the epidemic now," said Carolyn McAllaster, director of the Duke AIDS Legal Project and SASI project director. "We cannot afford to be complacent."
SASI was launched earlier this year by the Duke AIDS Legal Project to advocate for increased federal resources to stop the spread of HIV in the South.
According to newly released research commissioned by SASI and compiled by the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, 35 percent of new HIV infections in 2009 were in the targeted states, which contain only 22 percent of the U.S. population. North Carolina is one of eight southern states with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. The targeted states also lead the nation in new AIDS diagnoses rates.
Nine of the 10 states with the highest rates of death due to HIV in the country are in the South, according to the report. All nine states targeted in the report are among the 15 states with the highest death rates. North Carolina is one of these states.
|
| | | | |
|
|
|
Med Student Presents at Cancer Conference in Egypt
 | |
Med student Sky Vanderburg presenting at AORTIC 2011 Conference in Egypt.
|
Duke medical student Sky Vanderburg presented his research on African cancer registries at the AORTIC 2011 Conference "Entering the 21st Century for Cancer Control in Africa" Conference in Cairo, Egypt. He described the challenges faced by emerging and existing African cancer registries. He also shared components of successful registries, such as those in Egypt and Uganda, which both have a well-defined population, well-trained professionals, standardized methodology as well as active data collection and verification. The literature review is timely because 70% of the global cancer burden is borne by low- and middle-income countries, while cancer prevention and treatment service are scarce. The data will be used to develop a Kilimanjaro Region Cancer Registry in Tanzania as part of the KCMC-Duke Partnership.
Also see:
- DGHI Makes Splash at ASTM Conference
- Strong Duke Presence at Global Surgery Conference
|
|
|
| Received this as a forward? Sign up for future issues.
|
|
|
|
|
|
