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

Global News Round Up

by abbhirami, posted in APHA IH Section, News

Politics & Policies

Former CDC director, Tom Frieden, launches a new global health initiative to tackle epidemics and cardiovascular diseases.

Global health is set to be center stage at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly being held in New York.

Bill and Melinda Gates are spending a lot of time in Washington speaking with members of Congress about the importance of foreign aid.

Bill and Melinda Gates released a report called Goalkeepers, a large-scale statistical effort that assessed progress on 18 global health indicators.

Programs, Grants & Awards

Seven new grants have been awarded to fund research on tobacco control and prevention in low- and middle-income countries.

A new online course  called “(PH425x) MalariaX: Defeating Malaria from the Genes to the Globe,” provides a basic toolbox of knowledge and skills to help advance malaria eradication efforts both locally and nationally.

Four finalists have been announced for the MacArthur Foundation’s $100 million award. The four teams will present their final proposals on Dec. 11.

Research

A new report launched by WHO shows a serious a lack of new antibiotic development to address the growing issue of antibiotic resistance.

There are nearly 200,000 new cases of leprosy each year, including 25,000 in children and about half of all new cases are in India.

Mycobacterium avoids getting degraded by hiding in a separate compartment inside the macrophages, the very cell that is meant to destroy it, a new study shows.

Diseases & Disasters

Hearing loss has been on the rise over the last 25 years and a team of experts are now calling for a worldwide initiative to address this issue.

Researchers in the UK report a successful production of polio vaccine using a tobacco-related plant.

Data from the Population-based HIV Impact Assessments (PHIAs) show that five African countries are nearing control of HIV epidemic.

Distribution of nearly half a million doses of cholera vaccine has begun in Sierra Leone to prevent a cholera outbreak following the flooding and massive mudslides that killed hundreds.

Technology

According to results from a new study,  basic facial-recognition software can detect sexual orientation.There is a considerable amount of controversy about the purpose, methodology and ethics of this study.

Scientists have developed a smartphone-based HIV test that is capable of producing a positive test within 10 seconds using just a single drop of blood.

A new paper-based test that can diagnose Zika infection in about 20 minutes has been developed by researchers at MIT.

Environmental Health

A new study shows that 5000 premature deaths occur in Europe annually due to excess emissions from diesel cars.

A new study by IPEN reveals alarmingly high levels of mercury in women of child-bearing age. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause serious damage to unborn children.

According to a new study, atmospheric changes are potentially resulting in a drop in the amount of different nutrients produced/stored in food crops.

Equity & Disparities

Global Adolescent Study identifies themes in global adolescent development that span across many countries and income levels. According to the study, “the onset of adolescence triggers a common set of rigidly enforced gender expectations associated with increased lifelong risks of mental and physical health problems.”

According to a new report, nearly 3.9 billion people still don’t have access to the internet and the digital divide is growing between the developed and developing nations.

Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

According to the 2012-2016 global estimates, there are nearly 152 million children still engaged in child labor. While the number has decreased, the rate of decline has slowed significantly in the past 4 years.

Using a  mapping system created for the Local Burden of Disease project at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) researchers were able to examine communities in a 5- by 5 km block. This methodology has revealed significant differences in child death rates in African nations.

With a large burden of TB cases among children, India is set to roll out the Universal Drug Sensitivity Test, a molecular diagnostic test that takes about 100 minutes to complete.

Of the 25 million unsafe abortions that occurred between 2010 and 2014, 97% of these occurred in African, Asian and Latin American countries.

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.