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Greetings!
Duke students- from undergrads to grads and doctoral- are actively engaging in global health on many levels. On March 31, our students will be challenging fellow students from UNC, NC State and local universities in the third annual Triangle Global Health Case Competition. (Tomorrow is the deadline for registering your team.)
Several global health students are competing in the ChangeWorks social innovation competition. Cast a vote by giving your favorite idea a "thumbs up". Voting ends tomorrow.
Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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One-Quarter of HIV Patients Were Sexually Abused As Children
One in four HIV patients was found to have been sexually abused as a child, according to a two-year Duke University study of more than 600 HIV patients. Traumatic childhood experiences were also linked to worse health outcomes among these patients, who are aged 20 to 71.  More than half of these patients in the Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast (CHASE) study had experienced sexual or physical abuse in their lifetimes, according to researchers from the Duke Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR). Half of the patients had experienced three or more lifetime traumatic experiences, which, in addition to sexual or physical abuse, could include such experiences as witnessing domestic violence as a child, a parent's suicide attempt or completion, or losing a child.
"For whatever outcome we looked at, psychological trauma ended up being a predictor of worse medical outcomes and poorer health-related behaviors," said lead author Brian Pence, a Duke associate professor of community and family medicine and global health. Through periodic follow-ups over a two-year period, the study made important links between traumatic experiences, HIV-related behaviors and worse health outcomes. More lifetime traumatic experiences were associated with instances of unprotected sex, missing antiretroviral medications, recent emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Those patients who had experienced trauma were more likely to see their health decline or to die during the study period. The study appears in the April 1 edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (online now), with an accompanying editorial. The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health. 
This study is featured in the Toronto Sun, The Herald-Sun, Greensboro News & Record and Futurity. |
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Student-led Global Health Week Kicks Off Monday
Next week, the buzz on campus will be about "global health" as hundreds of students and faculty participate in the 5th annual Duke Global Health Week. Each year, the series of speakers and daily activities bring the university together to raise awareness of health  disparities in the US and abroad. The week gets under way on Monday with a keynote address from Laurie Garrett, a controversial speaker, journalist and advocate, who will speak on the future of global health policy and funding. On Thursday, UCLA researcher Nithya Ramanathan will share her work on the use of cell phones to make key advances in global health. Other speakers include Christine Grady, Chief of the NIH Clinical Center's Department of Bioethics; Roger Luhiri, Former Surgeon at Panzi Hospital in Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Emily Butera, Senior Program Officer at the Women's Refugee Commission. The themes are global health at home, innovation and sustainability, preventive health, maternal and child health, and social justice and advocacy. Activities will include a food drive, making mini water filters, a fitness challenge, mosquito net activity, blood pressure clinic and the opportunity to support the a WISER girls in Kenya. Global Health Week will conclude on Saturday with the Triangle Global Health Case Competition and Duke-UNC Bioethics Symposium. Join more than 20 Duke student organizations next week for an exciting series of fun and educational events. See the schedule for details. RSVP on faceboook.
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Training Program Aims to Build Capacity for Stroke Research In China
Along with partners at Peking University in China, the Duke Global Health Institute and Duke Clinical Research Institute are working to train Chinese physicians in stroke-focused clinical research. Stroke is a leading cause of death in China, and through this program, more Chinese physicians will be better equipped to contribute to the prevention and treatment of this health issue in their country.
With the leadership of Daniel Laskowitz, DGHI affiliate member and associate professor of neurology at the Duke Medical Center, the five-year clinical research training program is hosting Chinese physician scientists at Duke to build their research skills and collaborate with
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Weiping Sun (left) and Xun Tang
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Duke researchers on stroke-related
projects.
Now in its second year, the program has welcomed three PKU physician scientis
ts to Duke. In 2011, Duke hosted Chinese physician Wei Sun who began a research program on the risk factors and progression of intracranial hemorrhage, a type of stroke that involves bleeding within the skull. This type of stroke is more common in China, and researchers are trying to find out why. As a result of Sun's time at Duke, she and Duke neurologist Michael Luke James are lead authors on a paper that will be published later this year.
As a continuation of this research, visiting scholars and trainees Weiping Sun and Xun Tang from PKU are currently investigating the possible genetic, cultural or dietary factors that may be contributing to intracranial hemorrhage in rural China. One of the goals of this stroke research is to help inform a more equitable distribution of health care resources, with greater access for high-risk individuals.
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TIME: A Simpler Way to Slow the Obesity Crisis
News coverage of a study co-led by DGHI faculty member Gary Bennett The anti-obesity messages are becoming mind-numbingly familiar: smaller portions. Less fried food. Fewer sodas. It's all true, but it has become mere background noise. Yes, fast-food companies have spectacular ad budgets (even as I write this article about horrifying obesity trends, I want that $10 Pizza Hut dinner box, the one that comes with a medium pizza and no f ewer than 16 bread sticks). We live in a nation that can turn a lint-roller into an infomercial juggernaut. So why can't we sell healthy eating? A study appearing this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests a new idea. Maybe we should stop asking people to change - or even limit - their diets. Let's admit that no one really wants edamame more than Pizza Hut, and that when the Pizza Hut guy gets to the door, no one wants to see him carrying anything smaller than a Dinner Box. Instead, let's start with a simpler suggestion: just don't eat more than you do now.
Bad Medicine: The Misconceptions Driving the Health Care Debate
Research Scholar Christopher Conover headlined event which showcased his new book
In a respectful but divided discussion on Tuesday at AEI, health experts discussed the effectiveness and cost of health care in the United States, particularly in comparison to its Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) counterparts. Giving a thorough synopsis of the research advanced in his newly released book "American Health Economy Illustrated," Christopher Conover contended that research consistently underestimates the effectiveness of U.S. health care outcomes and exaggerates the system's costs. In addition, Conover asserted that socioeconomic and lifestyle variables greatly influence benchmark measures such as life expectancy and infant mortality rates and that health systems have limited ability to influence such variables. Furthermore, the methods of calculating these benchmark measures differ greatly among countries: the U.S. counts deaths of unviable and premature infants in its infant mortality statistics, but most other countries do not.
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Global Health Opportunities
Job Opportunity
Staff Specialist, Africa Initiative, Office of Global Strategy and Programs
Upcoming Conferences
Global Health & Innovation Conference, April 21-22, New Haven, CT
Genetics Awareness Project Conference, May 31-June 1, Miami, FL
International Conference on Global Health, July 18-21, Washington, DC
Health Disparities Summit, Oct. 31-Nov. 3, National Harbor, MD
Faculty
Partnerships for Sustainable Research and Dissemination of Evidence-based Medicine (R24) - due Apr. 27
Development and Translation of Medical Technologies to Reduce Health Disparities (R43/R44) - due Apr. 21
Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development Round 2 - due Apr. 2
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