An impressive Mosque in Senegal
Hello there and “Happy Leap Year Day!” As we have to wait 4 years for another one I hope that today has been good to you. Quite a few things to point out to you today. First, this week’s Lancet Student podcast is now up where Richard Lane-Lancet web editor-and I have a chat about the highlights of the last couple of weeks. And I also want to draw your attention to two fantastic peer-reviewed articles that we have just published. David Ansari who is currently a Fullbright scholar in Senegal discusses the stigma of HIV/AIDS and the role of religion in that country. You may find his interviews with some Imams very interesting. I certainly did. And Farah Apoo discusses the management of TB in the UK and Malaysia as she has had the opportunity to be on clinical placement in both countries. And also please note that this week’s Lancet Digest is now. Of particular note is a special report on the Russian election. In his last years in office, President Vladimir Putin ploughed billions of dollars into Russia’s ailing health system, investing in high-tech medicine and hospitals. But Russia’s next president will have to do more than that to address the country’s mortality crisis as Helen Womack reports.

Finally, as promised in this week’s podcast, here is an update on the v important PEPFAR reauthorisation courtesy of Stephanie Devita from the University Coalition for Global Health. For more information please see here but for now Over to Stephanie. Thanks and have a great weekend-Rhona (more…)

Rhona MacDonald and Richard Lane discuss what has been happening over the last couple of weeks at The Lancet Student including the special focus on HIV/AIDs and Human Resources for Health

 

 Chat with Rhona MacDonald and Richard Lane: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There is a landmark conference happening just now in Mozambique as Oxford medical student and current Lancet intern, Adam Briggs, explains below-Rhona 

  Image courtesy of Behind the Mask
To try and highlight the current atmosphere of homophobia within Africa, the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) organised a conference with the tag line “Building Lesbian Feminist Thinkers and Leaders for the 21st century” currently taking place in Maputo, Mozambique. Formed in 2004, CAL fight a major battle to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Africa. When their conference began, protesters gathered outside to urge local authorities to enforce Mozambique law which states that homosexual acts are illegal. (more…)

Lots going on and I have just realised that I haven’t mentioned our newly published articles for a while but you can spot them in the sidebar to the left: Some very interesting and diverse topics from authors from around the world so make sure you have a read.  Also, I haven’t given the current Lancet special issue on human resources for health the massive plug it deserves. I have discussed it in detail in this week’s Lancet Digest and have copied below the Lancet editorial which discusses the main issues. The human resources crisis for health is a complex problem which unfortunately,  is not going to go away in a hurry so best to stay informed- Rhona        

Finding solutions to the human resources for health crisis                      
Earlier this month, medical workers at Lira Hospital in northern Uganda went on strike to demand unpaid allowances promised by the government for working in this war-torn area. Seven patients died. There were reports of bodies decomposing in wards and women in the maternity ward assisting with each other’s deliveries. This shocking situation serves as a stark reminder of the reality of the human resources for health crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. It also highlights the complexities of the crisis, where competing human rights, health-care needs, and international agendas clash, and in which the poor and most vulnerable suffer the most.

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Many of you have been out and about. In the two previous blog entries today, Joshua Schulman-Marcus, a medical student from New York describes his week in New Delhi and Brazilian medical students Rafael Bastos and Carolina Costa from  Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora give the highlights of a recent educational trip to Wales, UK. And below Rachel Pope and her classmates, Christopher LaFond, Pavan Mankal, Rachael Keefe, and Soliman Yaqub from Medical School for International Health at Ben Gurion University, Israel, tell us about a day they have just spent in the West Bank. They conclude by saying, ” Health care is indeed a common ground for all of us, and therefore, a viable way towards peace.” Well said!-Rhona

Bethlehem wall

I just got back from a very full day in the West Bank with four of my classmates, my newfound super team. We went to meet a physician who humbly preaches peace through health care. He generously gave up his free day to introduce us to the complexities of health care in the West Bank. We met him in Bethlehem over a cup of tea and he explained that he wanted to show us the difference between two types of health care that exist in the city: government-sponsored and non-governmental organization (NGO)/charity- sponsored. We could predict what would be different between these two, as is often the case in several countries around the world, but what we did not predict was what was the same: the sincerity and eagerness of the staff in both places to take care of the community despite political obstacles. (more…)

Health systems have many common factors as Rafael Bastos, a second year medical student from Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora and Carolina Costa, a Fourth year medical student from Suprema Faculdade de Ciências Médicas e da Saúde de Juiz de Fora, Brazil found out on a recent trip to Cardiff, Wales- Rhona

From Rafael Bastos and Carolina Costa
It goes without saying that some people are more public than others when it comes to Public Health. Poorer people who can not afford to go private have no way but relying on the Public health System. This usually means long waiting lists and less time with their doctors.

As part of our training programme, Brazilian medical students are supposed to visit Health Centres in the poverty stricken areas of the country. Once there, one can witness weary doctors and nurses spending less and less time with their patients. Every now and then we even meet well-meaning health professionals being defeated by the system. The patients, most of the time, do not seem to have their expectations met. Some of them say: “It’s as if the doctor and I want different things.” (more…)

Joshua Schulman-Marcus, a 4th year medical student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York tells us about his week in New Delhi, India, working at All India Institute of Medial Sciences’ (AIIMS) emergency ward and the Centre for Chronic Disease Control-Rhona 

First day
Even as I had psychologically prepared myself before arriving in New Delhi, I could not help but be astounded by the crowds of sick people.  Overflowing hallways, packed beds and stretchers, benches upon benches of patients waiting for a five minute outpatient consultation, staff in masks writing away.  The crowds of voices echoed loudly across the decaying walls in All India Institute of Medial Sciences’s (AIIMS) emergency ward.

One would expect differences between the largest public hospital in India and the New York hospital in which I trained.  The latter hospital does have long waits and a relatively chaotic emergency room, but it also affords the best of developed world care to the city’s immigrant population.  Rather, I expected AIIMS would be similar to the public tertiary center I visited in Honduras while working on a surgical brigade last June.  In that hospital’s emergency wards, what I immediately noticed was the relative silence.  There were no bedside monitors clanging away, and the patients largely suffered in silence.  (more…)

Hi there-It’s been a while. Lots of unexpected things happening at this end so sorry about that. Last week The Lancet Student sent Adam Briggs, a final year medical student from Oxford University who is currently an intern with us to a fascinating event at the Royal Society of Arts in London. He reports back here and gives his own opinion at the end but what do you think?  So over to Adam-Rhona

The Beijing Olympic Games are being wielded more and more as a political tool rather than a celebration of international sporting excellence. International journalists have been afforded relative freedom by the Chinese government in the build up to the Games leading to China’s horrific human rights record being put under the international spotlight. Reports of torture, execution, and imprisonment as well unacceptable foreign policy towards Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Burma have been brought very much into the public eye. This is enhanced by Stephen Spielberg’s recent decision to withdraw as artistic adviser to the opening ceremony, attracting significant attention and leading to some calls for an international boycott. (more…)

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank, recently spoke in Bristol, UK. medical students, Jienchi Dorward, Rob Hughes and Jonny Currie went along to hear what he had to say and report back below. Rhona

Muhammed Yunus courtesy of nobelprize.org

Muhammad Yunus, dressed in traditional Bangladeshi shirt and trousers, didn’t look like your average world famous banker. But then, his bank isn’t like your average world famous bank. Firstly, it focuses on providing a service to the poorest people in society. It doesn’t take collateral when it gives out loans. It doesn’t try to make a profit. And rather than starting in one of the world’s great financial centres, it was born in the small village of Jobra, Bangladesh.

In the 25 years since it started, the Grameen Bank has grown enormously, with over 7 million borrowers and sister projects in many other countries, including the United States. The Bank focuses on ‘micro-credit’ - providing small loans at small interest rates to people stuck in poverty. These small amounts can often provide the impetus and resources that people need to escape the poverty trap and generate some income of their own. It tries to encourage disadvantaged people to use entrepreneurial and business skills to better their situation, instead of relying on charity or high interest loans from profiteering loan sharks. (more…)

 This is the third of three blog entries which I have just posted from students around the world. In the first one, Faye Cooles from Edinburgh University discusses the horrors of applying for a medical job via the UK job application system, then Suvash Shrestha from Kathmandu Medical College discusses the stigma surrounding HIV in Nepal, and here, Rachel Pope who is currently on an American-Israeli joint programme, discusses some interesting community visits she recently made in the Negev desert. Enjoy! Rhona

Rachel Pope
My name is Rachel Pope and I’m a first year medical student at the Medical School for International Health at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel in collaboration with Columbia University. While I usually write articles about women’s health, I will blog from time to time about special health experiences I have here in this diverse and fascinating part of the world. I am in the first year of this American-Israeli joint program housed in the Negev desert and for the last three weeks, we have been doing our clinical days in adult medicine. This means we take field trips and interact with the community around us practicing taking patient histories for half a day once a week. There were four places we visited in small groups, each equally interesting and reaffirming for why I chose this particular medical school. (more…)