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A new Lancet report systematically assesses the right-to-health in 194 countries. See the linked comments/editorial on the right side of the report page for more info. |
Lancet Student interns, Sophie Mathewson and Christine Tapp discuss the week’s events including a function they went to for Refugee week and the media media launch of the second Action For Global Health report that they also discussed in a blog this week.
We’ve been enjoying leaving the office this week and yesterday we attended the media launch of the second Action For Global Health report. Action For Global Health is an advocacy network of European NGOs. The aim of this year’s policy report is to consider how European aid for health is delivered, and to create a strategy for increasing the quantity of aid, and the quality of its delivery. The 2007 report focused on aid effectiveness, and yesterday’s report addressed the question of ‘Why Europe must deliver more aid, better spent to save the health Millenium Goals’.
As it’s refugee week we wanted to draw your attention to an article by Mark Haddon in the Observer magazine, drawing attention to the problems facing asylum seekers in the UK. He met a number of asylum seekers at the Migrants Resource Centre including Sergey, an Armenian doctor who contracted Hepatitis C whilst living on the street and who now requires a liver transplant.
If you would like to read more on the experiences of refugees we recommend Caroline Moorehead’s Human Cargo- A Journey Amongst Refugees (2005). She tells the stories of refugees she met during two years travelling in countries including Egypt, Australia, the USA, Italy, Lebanon, Finland and England. Sophie
High Commissioner Antonio Guterres
Last night, we (note from Rhona: that’s Sophie and Christine, our current Lancet Student interns!) had the opportunity to attend a talk by Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which marked the start of Refugee Week here in the UK. The talk was hosted by the International Rescue Committee, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides emergency relief and humanitarian aid to more than 15 million refugees and conflict-affected people around the world. The theme of High Commissioner Guterres’ talk was “People on the Move: The Challenges of Displacement in the 21st Century”.
One of the key challenges facing the international community in the next decade that Guterres spoke about is the need to manage migration flows and the movement of peoples within and across borders. Specifically, the concern is in distinguishing persons that are forcibly displaced and urgently need asylum and refuge from those who migrate for non-forcible reasons. Persons who are forcibly displaced require a higher level of protection - protection that the international community is bound to provide under the conventions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In many instances, this commitment to international protections is in stark contrast to the common practice of states, with many European countries offering limited protection. Guterres said that 0% of Iraqis in Greece currently enjoy protection as refugees; as Greece is the main entry point to Europe, it is often the country to which other European countries send those whose claims for asylum have been rejected. This can be compared with the 170,000 Burundians offered Tanzanian citizenship after their citizenship rights had been dissolved when they did not return following the 1972 conflict.
Nicola Bradley, a student at Brighton and Sussex Medical School reports on the school’s first five years.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (photo: www.sussex.ac.uk)
Last week, Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) held a huge party to celebrate five years of the medical school being in operation. Indeed, the first cohort of BSMS students will (hopefully!) graduate this summer and start their F1 posts. For the academic staff who worked tirelessly to make this medical school what it is, this will be a nerve-wracking time because BSMS will get its first appearance on the league tables.
Hi there. Just to let you know that this week’s Lancet Student podcast is up. I discuss what has been going on in Lancet Student world this week with our current interns, Sophie Mathewson and Christine Tapp. I also rave about James Orbinski, the former president of Medecins Sans Frontieres, who I met this week. James has written about his experiences in his autobiography, An Imperfect offering and I thoroughly recommend that you read it if you can. We also discuss what is is like being a Lancet Student intern. I am looking for students to join me in London from October onwards to help with The Lancet Student so please get in touch if you are interested. many thnaks and have a great weekend- Rhona rhona.macdonald@lancet.com
Editor Rhona MacDonald and Lancet Student interns, Sophie Mathewson and Christine Tapp discuss what has been going on in Lancet Student world this week. Rhona raves about James Orbinski, the former president of Medecins Sans Frontieres, and recommends that you read his autobiography, An Imperfect offering .The girls also discuss what is is like being a Lancet Student intern. If you are interested in becoming one yourself, please email rhona.macdonald@lancet.com
Abhishek Sharma, Taaran Cariappa and Gaurav Malik discuss their efforts and achievements in raising awareness of Chikungunya.
When we returned to India last year after 10 months of medical school in Bulgaria, all we wanted to do was sleep, eat and relax the whole summer. But then this strange word caught our attention, Chikungunya. At first we thought it was related to bird flu which at that time was wreaking havoc all over the world. However we were in for a surprise. As we started to read more and more about the disease we realized it was another deadly disease transmitted by mosquitoes and on its way towards resurgence. The first reported outbreak of the disease dates back to 1955 but it was nothing compared to the one the world witnessed last year. A disease which had originally started in Madagascar, had now spread to a number of countries across the globe, causing mayhem for humanity.
Lucie Potter from Bristol University Medical School talks about her interest and experiences in healthcare for the homeless.
Including the ‘hidden homeless’, it is estimated that there are 380,000 single homeless people in the UK (1). 81% are addicted to alcohol or drugs (2), 30-50% of rough sleepers have mental health problems (3) and they are 35 times more likely to commit suicide than the non-homeless population (4). Each of these contributes to high levels of morbidity and a life expectancy of just 42 (4). There is clearly a great need for healthcare and support for homeless people.
Despite the great need, access to healthcare is difficult, and attitudes of doctors contribute to this barrier (5). Perhaps this is unsurprising when there is evidence of medical education increasing prejudicial views of the homeless (6). Homeless people are often described as ‘chaotic’- they have no address to send an appointment to, no caring, safe environment in which to maintain health or recover from illness, their medicines may get stolen and of course there’s the not so helpful mental health problems confounding it all; they can be a busy important doctors nightmare.
Tammy Towers, med student from Manchester University, reports on the second half of the 35th annual Global Health Conference in Washington, DC.
Day 2 - Wednesday 28th May
Day 2 began with an opening brunch reception for the international exhibition which was to remain open for the rest of the week. It showcased many NGOs, companies and universities who work in the field of Global or Public Health, ranging from USAID to John Hopkins University.
The first panel session of the day was entitled ‘Community Nutrition Programs: Fuel for a successful future’ and was moderated by Neal Brandes from USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and the first presentation came from Sadika Akhter a research coordinator from Plan Bangladesh, and it was titled ‘Promoting the Adoption of Community-Based Responsive Feeding in Rural Bangladesh’. She was followed by Rose Namarika a senior manager from World Vision International who talked about ‘MICAH Malawi: Community Driven Health and Nutrition Programming’ which is a 3 step programme involving promotion of breast-feeding, iron supplementation and fortification of food to increase the nutritional status of women and children in Malawi. Thomas Schaetzel from USAID then continued with ‘Delivering Community-based Child Feeding Counseling, One Child at a Time’ and the presentations finished with ‘Community-Led School Feeding Programs in the Millenium Village Project’ given by one of it’s workers, David Siriri, who emphasised the importance of delivering the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on the ground.
