Seattle, WA - Aug. 23, 2014 – One of the best ways to help a country is to do no harm while helping, argue a consortium of public health researchers, physicians, activists and funders in a comment published in the Aug. 23 edition of The Lancet.
UW researchers contributed to a special supplement in the August issue of Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, about the work of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI), a U.S.-funded program to strengthen health systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.
New research published today [September 19] in The Lancet suggests that, with sustained international efforts, the number of premature deaths could be reduced by 40% over the next two decades (2010-2030), halving under–50 mortality and preventing a third of the deaths at ages 50–69 years.
The Human Animal Medicine Project is now officially the Center for One Health Research (COHR), residing in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. The Center for One Health Research investigates the health linkages between humans, animals, and their shared environments; including zoonoses, comparative clinical medicine, animals as sentinels, animal worker health, nutrition and food safety, and the human-animal bond.
UW Global Health Professor Kristie Ebi presented Aug. 27 at the World Health Organization conference on health and climate in Geneva.
The Washington Global Health Alliance announced its Second Annual Pioneers in Global Health Awards, three prestigious awards selected by a panel of judges including last year’s Impact Award Winner, Department Chair Dr. King Holmes. Congratulations to Kenneth Stuart, Pathobiology faculty and founder of Seattle Biomed, for winning the Award for Impact!
From the WGHA website:
Ukraine has one of the most serious HIV/AIDS epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and is experiencing one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the world. The first case of HIV was identified in 1987; since that time 245,216 cases have been officially recorded, with 31,999 deaths. As of January 1, 2014, more than 134,000 HIV-positive patients were registered with and receiving care and treatment from the state health care facilities.
The key to removing the stigma surrounding mental illness can be summarized in one word — empathy.
“If I could inspire a little bit of empathy toward this issue, my work is complete,” said Delany Ruston, a physician and filmmaker from Seattle.
Ruston says that global mental illness is not very different from the mental illness that is around us in the US. The woman we avoid at the bus stop, the man muttering to himself on the sidewalk; these people are often hidden from view, not only because we choose not to see them but also because they are tucked away by society.
"I want to tell a story of something that happened this week, Monday, in my country,” Dr. Stella Nyanzi told the crowd as she began her keynote speech to kick off the 11th Annual Western Regional International Health Conference.
“People marched through Kampala, carrying banners and posters with the most shocking messages for those of us who had been working with the LGBTIQ community in Uganda, messages that said things like, ‘Uganda belongs to God,’ or, ‘Musevini, we the children thank you for saving our future.’”
“Global health and social movements must be anchored at the local grassroots level,” said Walter G. Flores, the first panelist to speak this Sunday at the WRIHC’s final plenary session.
Flores, who works for the Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Healthcare Systems, was one of four distinguished keynote speakers who wrapped up this weekend’s global health conference in the spirit of social justice and activism.