MiddBlog

Healing Humanity: Perspectives in Global Public Health

THURSDAY MARCH 5th
Global Health Symposium Kick-off!
8 pm Ross Quad
Bonfire, S’Mores, A Cappella, Hot Chocolate and more!
This social event will provide a fun environment to engage students start the dialogue about global public health and different intervention strategies, such as malaria nets. In between sipping hot cocoa or cider and listening to a cappella or drum circle, we will discuss issues surrounding health. Amnesty International will be selling supplies for smores to raise money for the Minus Malaria Campaign, a group which purchases and distributes malaria nets, which can reduce transmission of malaria by 90% in areas with high coverage rates.

SUNDAY MARCH 8th
Kris Ebi, PhD, MPH
2 pm   Dana Auditorium
“Where on Earth Are We Going? Human Health and Climate Change”
Dr. Kristie Ebi is an epidemiologist who has worked in the field of global climate change for 10 years. Her research focuses on potential impacts of climate variability and change, including those associated with extreme events, food-borne diseases and vector-borne diseases. Kris Ebi was lead author of the Human Health chapter of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, lead author of Working Group II of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, as well as of the U.S. National Assessment on the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. Aside from her tremendous experience analysing the intricate link between climate change and human health, Kris has lead and consulted with numerous climate change adaption projects in Bhutan, China and Ghana, among others, with the WHO, UNDP and USAID. Dr. Ebi has more than 25 years of multidisciplinary experience in environmental issues, including development, sustainability and adaptation.

MONDAY MARCH 9th
Sheri Fink, MD, PhD
4:30 pm  Dana Auditorium
“Health and Human Rights: Ethics of Humanitarian Aid during War, Conflict, and Natural Disaster“
Dr. Sheri Fink is currently a senior fellow of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Her service with the International Medical Corps has brought her through numerous international humanitarian aid initiatives in the Balkans, Mozambique, Russia and the Middle East, among others. While at Stanford for her PhD and MD, Fink investigated the Nazi Holocaust and protested genocide in Bosnia. Combining her passion in both medicine and writing, Fink returned from the Bosnian war and shared her experiences in her book “War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival”, which addresses questions like: With limited resources and a makeshift hospital overflowing with patients during war, how doctors decide who to save and who to let die? Are there times when humanitarian aid paradoxically prolongs human suffering rather than helping to relieve it? What could make a doctor put down a scalpel to pick up a gun? Dr. Fink reports frequently on global health issues for BBC/PRI’s THE WORLD, and her articles have appeared in mass media publications including the NEW YORK TIMES the WASHINGTON POST and DISCOVER as well as in scientific journals including JAMA, the American Journal of Public Health, and Health and Human Rights, covering the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and international aid in development, conflict and disaster settings. (Video Archive)

MONDAY MARCH 9th
Film Screening: Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge
7:30 pm Bicentennial Hall 216
Why has it taken so long to avert a health crisis that has been preventable for decades? What will it take to get the benefits of medical science and the strategies of disease prevention to all the world’s people? Filmed in over twenty countries and narrated by actor Brad Pitt, RX FOR SURVIVAL: A Global Health Challenge looks closely at the most critical health threats facing the world today. This six- part documentary series presents the compelling stories and real-life drama of those who are proving that solutions are indeed possible – and that lives can be saved right now, the world over.

TUESDAY MARCH 10th
Faculty Panel & Ken Dabbs, Open Door Clinic Middlebury
4:30 pm McCullough Social Space
“Perspectives on Global Health: What Is Working? What Needs Work?”
A faculty panel will discuss the current debates surrounding public health. What are the different approaches? Where do some groups disagree? What are the arguments for either a domestic or global focus? Why is AIDS still a problem when there are 60,000 NGOs specifically targeting HIV/AIDS? What are the successes? What happens in Middlebury? Professor Svea Closser, teaching courses in medical anthropology and global health, and Professor Sarah Stroup, who teaches Politics of International Humanitarian Aid, will sit on a panel with other faculty. Ken Dabbs is currently the executive director of The Open Door Clinic is a free clinic sponsored by the Community Health Services of Addison County. He has been instrumental in embracing the Mexican community by providing them with essential health services. They provide a huge number of services to Middlebury including everything from mental health counseling to diagnostic testing free of charge.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 11th
Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS, Dean Emeritus, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4:30 pm   Hillcrest 103, The Orchard
“Why Your Mom Tells You to Eat Your Carrots: Vitamin A, Micronutrients, and Cost Analysis of Medical Intervention“
Dr. Alfred Sommer‘s pioneering work in studying vitamin A deficiency and blindness prevention has won him worldwide fame and saved the vision of children throughout the developing world. While in Indonesia, he discovered that night-blind children seemed to be dying at a much higher rate than the children with normal sight. Vitamin A deficiency that was causing nightblindness was also making the children fatally susceptible to mild childhood illnesses like measles and diarrhea. Just two cents’ worth of vitamin A given twice a year reduced childhood mortality by a third. The World Bank has judged the vitamin A capsule one of the most cost-effective medical interventions of all time, and programs to dose children with it have now been rolled out in 70 countries. Among other recognitions, Alfred Sommer was a recipient of the Danone International Prize for Nutrition in 2001 and the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 1997. (Video Archive)

THURSDAY MARCH 12th
Dennis Raphael, School of Health Policy and Management, York University, Toronto
7:30 pm Dana Auditorium
“Uncles Sam’s Diagnosis: Social Determinants of Health and Health Policy in the United States and Canada”
Dennis Raphael has been called a beacon for progressive public health. He researches the affects of poverty and diversity on health in North America. The health policy professor is an expert on social determinants of health. Poverty is not just a problem of the third world. Childhood poverty, not individual lifestyle, is a more accurate predictor of heart and other diseases no matter how healthy and wealthy you become as an adult. Economic inequality is bad for Americans’ health, because rich and poor alike are buffeted by insecurity caused by deteriorating health, social service and educational systems, all of which are important predictors of illness and death. In addition, health is a better indicator of quality of life than wealth. When should the USA be more concerned about health than GDP? He has written extensively about health policy in both the Canada and the United States.

FRIDAY MARCH 13th
Mark Bisanzo & Student Panel
12:15pm  McCullough Social Space
“What can I do? Words of Wisdom on How to Get Involved in Global Public Health”
Mark Bisanzo is a graduate of Middlebury ’98 and Harvard Medical School. After ten years of schooling and post-graduate medical training, Mark realized that he was not fulfilling the goals and hopes he had set for himself upon entering medical school. After a medical mission trip to Uganda, Mark founded Global Emergency Care Cooperative. He now splits time between teaching at UConn Med School and working in Uganda. As a Middlebury Grad, Mark can offer invaluable insight to all of us who see the need and want to get involved. After Mark shares his journey from Middlebury to Uganda, the floor will be opened up to student panelists who have also done work in public health. Harriet Napier will speak about her experiences in Romania and her commitment to global health. CSO and ACE will present to students information about possible career paths or ways to get involved while here in Middlebury.

Student Global Aids Campaign-Red Party
10 pm KDR House
Party it up with the Student Global AIDS Campaign and Office of Health and Wellness Education, who are sponsoring their annual spring Red Party, a dance party which aims to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS.

THROUGHOUT SYMPOSIUM
Partners in Health Photo Exhibit
February 18- March 20 in McCardell Bicentennial Hall
“On the Same Map“: Photo Exhibit Celebrating over 20 Years of Health and Social Justice

HIV Testing
Tuesday- Middlebury Open Door Clinic offers free HIV testing every Tuesday.
Thursday- The Student Global AIDS Campaign offers free HIV screenings at Parton Health Center. Must sign up first.

Questions? Hannah Burnnett at hburnett@middlebury.edu or Romany Redman rredman@middlebury.edu

Sponsored by the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB).