Author: ihsection
APHA Section Elections are now open!
Attention all IH Section members! APHA elections are now open – you should have received an e-mail from Fran Atkinson with instructions on how to cast your vote online. If you have not received it, check your spam folder and deleted items!
I have copied and pasted the text of the e-mail below, but you still need your unique PIN and member ID, both provided by APHA. Log on and vote!
Dear APHA Member:
The 2012 election polls are now open! APHA would like to encourage all members to vote at this time, it directly affects the future of the Association. Please follow the simple steps below to login and vote.
1.) Go to the APHA voting site: https://www.esc-vote.com/publichealth
2.) In the first box enter your Unique PIN: [provided by APHA]
3.) Press the tab key
4.) In the second box enter your APHA Member ID Number: [provided by APHA]
5.) Press the tab key
6.) Click on the “Login” button to begin voting
Please note that ballots are tallied by an outside vendor – to ensure that your vote is confidential.
If you need assistance, you can click on the “Help” button on the login page to access the help screen or call 1-866-720-4357 to speak with an Election Services Co. customer service representative. Please note that you must cast your ballot by 5:00 p.m. (EDT) on July 30.
Thank you for taking the time to vote.
Sincerely,
Frances Atkinson, MSM
Director of Component Affairs
CGDev Video: Assessing the Los Cabos G-20 Summit and Rio+20 Earth Summit (panel discussion)
Over the course of one week, world leaders convened in Los Cabos, Mexico, for the G20 Summit and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The outcomes of these two high-level meetings have potentially important implications for poor people in the developing world in three key areas: food security and agriculture, energy, and green growth. U.S. representatives to the Los Cabos G20 and Rio+20 summits, and other distinguished speakers joined us for an assessment of these summits and the road ahead.
MSF Videos: Neglected Tropical Diseases
MSF recently released this set of videos on NTDs (neglected tropical diseases). On a related note, I am looking for someone to take over this duty for the blog (finding interesting/relevant YouTube videos and posting them here with some brief commentary), so if you are interested, please e-mail me!
Sleeping sickness is a fatal and much neglected disease that plagues parts of Africa.
Chagas is a parasitic disease found on the American continent, where it affects an estimated 8 to 10 million people and claims up to 12,500 lives every year.
[youtube-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvyMN4sEEDY]
Kala Azar is a neglected tropical disease responsible for 50,000 deaths every year.
APHA Mid-Year Meeting
Below is a post from past section chair, Dr. Miriam Labbock, who is representing the IH Section at this year’s APHA Mid-Year Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Dear All:
I am at the mid-year meeting of APHA representing the IH Section – as well I might, as there only seem to be a handful at most of section members here. We gathered together at a break to see who was here…BUT HERE’S MY VOTE THAT WE GET MORE INVOLVED IN THIS MEETING FOR NEXT YEAR!!! It has little to no section or affiliate politicking and actually sticks pretty much to public health issues, and gives sufficient time for discussion and networking. If we can add in a little IH, this could serve as an excellent alternative to the possibly missing GHC opportunity, with some a solid learning time.!
Yesterday, the first day, we had a keynote speech by Dr Don Berwick, guru of improving quality in the health care setting. While he stuck pretty much close to his comfort zone by his own admission, some of the questions pulled him out to discuss public health. Bottom line: huge call for increased communication between clinical and public health agendas.
Luckily, today, the keynote was Dr Mike McGinnis, who is well known in US Public Health circles. His talk much more directly addressed the question of how to increase the dialogue and mutual action. I encourage you all to read his comments, which I am told will be on line on the APHA website soon.
Last night, we had a special session planned to discuss the supreme court decision on ACA. Of course, the decision will not be until Thursday, but there were some interesting points made. In the immigration case, the Supreme Court made a big deal of the fact that they cannot make a judgement on something that is not yet in place…so this heartened the crowd that the provisions that have not as yet been implemented may be safe…we shall see.
Breakout sessions that I attended included “Building the Evidence Base for Public Health” where the take home message was very familiar to those of us who work in other countries: you need ‘evidence’ that is more relevant to action planning! Great speakers. Again, I would encourage you to visit the site. Shiriki offered a bit on the L.E.A.D. approach that may be relevant and all the speakers were innovative and interesting. The next was on Building Community Action – again, I think we are way ahead of the game in IH, but it was good to hear about domestic efforts to involve all stakeholders in health planning. All sessions pretty much addressed increasing activity (for obesity and coronary and diabetes) and decreasing sweet drinks. Lots of sidewalks in the discussion. I wish there has been some other topics, but it was very eye opening to see how state-side public health units have to function. My hats off to them – so many bureaucratic hurdles…
Stay tuned, because tomorrow the discussion will further highlight…ACA, of course! Let’s see what the Supreme Court comes up with!!
Best wishes to all, Miriam
IH CONNECT 