Author: ihsection

IHSC career development webinar recording “En Route from the Ebola Tent to Congress” now available

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, Careers, Events and Webinars, Policy and Advocacy, Section Announcements, Stories from the Field

The APHA International Health Student Committee hosted a webinar called “En Route from the Ebola Tent to Congress” on September 27, 2017 with Deborah Wilson, RN and MPH candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Debbie led an interactive webinar walking attendees through a day in the life of an Ebola Treatment Center, including a bit about the political fallout upon returning to the USA, and how her experiences shifted her from direct patient care to public health policy.

If you have any questions, please email: apha.ihsc.careers@gmail.com

NASEM interactive resource available exploring global health and the future role of the US #USglobalhealth

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, Policy and Advocacy

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has recently developed a new interactive global health resource, which serves as a one-stop shop for exploring the recent report: “Global Health and the Future Role of the United States.”

Complete with new videos, infographics, and shareable, data-rich content, this resource provides visitors with an in-depth look at the report’s findings — detailing why and how to continue America’s commitment to global health, as well as 14 recommendations to guide U.S. action in improving the health of the world’s population. The videos featured highlight the United States’ legacy in global health, in addition to the linkages between investing in global health and national security.

Help spread the work on this important resource, using #USglobalhealth on social media.

 

Another ACA repeal bill may be gaining momentum

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, Policy and Advocacy

Posted on behalf of Paul Freeman, IH Section Action Board Representative

Colleagues, the battle continues. Please contact your Senate representatives for just 5 minutes as suggested below. It is crucial that you spend 5 minutes of your time for the ACA at this time.

In the coming days, the U.S. Senate may begin consideration of yet another proposal to repeal and weaken major portions of the Affordable Care Act. Like previous proposals defeated earlier this year in the Senate, this one, known as the Graham-Cassidy proposal, would cut health coverage and raise premiums and out-of-pocket costs for millions, eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund, slash federal Medicaid spending and end the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, and allow states to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Your advocacy efforts were a key reason the Senate defeated the previous proposals to repeal or weaken the ACA. Take the time to contact your senators and urge them to oppose the disastrous Graham-Cassidy bill and any other proposal to repeal or weaken the Affordable Care Act either by using APHA’s action alert or by calling the Capitol switchboard and asking to be connected to the offices of your senators at 202-224-3121. 

Sample phone script:

Introduce yourself as a constituent and public health professional.

I urge Sen. XX to oppose the Graham-Cassidy Affordable Care Act repeal bill. This proposal would:

  • Cut health coverage and raise premiums and out-of-pocket costs for millions.
  • Eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
  • Slash federal Medicaid spending and end the ACA’s Medicaid expansion.
  • Allow states to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
  • Eliminate Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for one year.
  • Instead, I’m asking my senators to support the bipartisan effort to strengthen and improve the Affordable Care Act.

Thank you for you continued advocacy to support and strengthen the Affordable Care Act!

Don’t miss the Community-Based Primary Health Care Pre-Conference this year: Saturday, November 4th!

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, Community-Based Primary Health Care, Education Opportunities (Workshops, Conferences, Etc), Events and Webinars, Section Announcements

Community-Based Primary Health Care and Community Health Workers: Underfunded Afterthought or Key to Achieving Universal Health  Care? 

CBPHC.png

In 1978 the WHO’s Declaration of Alma-Ata outlined CBPHC as the strategy for achieving universal healthcare, with health being defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Almost forty years later, we are far from achieving “health for all.” Despite accumulated evidence in the literature demonstrating the effectiveness of CBPHC and CHWs for increasing health equity, why is this strategy often either an underfunded afterthought, or left out to favor “sexier” vertical interventions like mosquito nets for all, or hospital care?

In this interactive workshop, participants will share their own expertise as well as develop new knowledge and understanding about issues with global experts in CBPHC and CHWs. Conference topics will include: 1) Review of the latest evidence on the effectiveness of CBPHC as a strategy to achieving health equity, 2) Debate on the pros and cons of vertical, horizontal and diagonal approaches to achieving universal health, 3) Sharing of resources for the implementation of CBPHC, 4) Case studies on effective global CBPHC programming 5)Community based participatory research (CBPR) and its relevance to CBPHC and 6) Global funding for CBPHC. This workshop is sponsored by the CBPHC working group of the international health section.

Speakers include: Stanley Foster, Henry Perry and Nina Wallerstein!

 Here is the link to the CBPHC website where you can register, share information, and put this pre-conference on your calendar for Saturday, November 4th!

Please share this Save the Date information for the CBPHC Pre-conference widely as well as the link to the CBPHC Pre-Conference titled:

Community Based Primary Health Care and Community Health Workers: Underfunded Afterthought or Key to Achieving Universal Health Care?

Here is the link to purchase the ticket for the pre-conference that you can share.

A Facebook event has been created for the workshop and will be continually updated and used as a platform for advertisement. If you are active on Facebook, please mark that you are “Going”, share the event, and invite your Facebook friends.

Adaptation Community Meeting 9/21: Climate Change and Health in Mozambique – Impacts and Responses

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, Climate Change and Environment, Events and Webinars

Remarkable progress is being made across Sub-Saharan Africa on public health. Child mortality, rates of stunting and incidence of diseases such as malaria and meningitis are dropping. But these gains may be lost as changes in climate and weather promote disease outbreaks and greater food insecurity. Owing to its location, demographics and geography, Mozambique is particularly vulnerable to negative outcomes on health resulting from changes in climate. Malaria is already widespread and poor water supply and sanitation infrastructure lead to frequent contamination of water resources during floods.

Over the past few years, the USAID-funded Climate Change Adaptation, Thought Leadership and Assessments (ATLAS) project has been examining the relationship between temperature and rainfall trends and diarrheal disease and malaria rates in Mozambique.

At the September Adaptation Community Meeting, Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation Specialist Fernanda Zermoglio will provide the latest research and findings from this work, as well as what is being done to strengthen Mozambique’s health system preparedness and response.

Thursday, September 21, 2017
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm ET

Location:
Chemonics International, Inc.
1717 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20006

To join remotely:
Online webinar – https://meet93445775.adobeconnect.com/september2017/
*If it is your first time using Adobe Connect please allow for up to 15 minutes for the plug-in to download before you can join the webinar.

For more details and registration, click here.

Speaker:
Fernanda Zermoglio has been on the forefront of climate change adaptation science, assessment methodology, programming and policy for the past 15+ years. A geographer with a detailed knowledge of climate modeling and various adaptation methodologies, she has synthesized applied research, pragmatic tools and knowledge-sharing platforms to inform the design, implementation and integration of climate adaptation assessments across a number of countries, in support of various donors and local governments. Since 2014 she has been the Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation Specialist on the DC-based ATLAS project.

Check out the Adaptation Community Meetings page on Climatelinks to find: 1) information on upcoming meetings, 2) recordings of previous meetings organized by category and 3) post-event blogs.