The Shift Movie....

A perfect example of a tribute to Global Health Leadership

Male circumcision in Africa

A latest news event from the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6502855.stm

"The World Health Organization and UNAIDS said circumcision should be added to current interventions to reduce the spread of HIV...WHO and UNAIDS said access to the procedure should be urgently scaled up in areas with high rates of heterosexual infection and low rates of male circumcision."

There are a few issues I have with this:

First, just as there are social/cultural qualms about using condoms, I imagine there would be similar, if not stronger cultural issues with the recommendation of circumcision to certain African populations. Although this seems like a reasonable preventive strategy, I wonder if anyone consulted with community stakeholders to discuss the feasibility of implementing this plan. I can imagine nurses and other skilled health workers in birthing centers trying to coerce mothers to circumcise their baby boys.

Second, does this recommendation from the WHO come with a plan action? Will they involve the community?

Abbot Pharmaceuticals to Remove HIV Rx from Thailand

Check out this quick video from BBC News...type in "Thai protests over HIV drugs access" into the search and click on the video that comes up on the right hand side of the page.

I must say...sometimes I wonder whether intellectual property rights involving highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) are valid in developing worlds where they are fighting HIV. Basically, Abbott Laboratories are pulling a highly successful HAART Rx from the Thai market because the Thai government allegedly violated a patent law in manufacturing one of Abbott's earlier versions of the Rx. I don't know anything about IP rights, but I really don't know how this is legal? People's lives are at stake, and the US Pharm Giant is putting pressure on a small developing country to pay high HAART prices. Does anyone know about any subsidies that Big Pharm offers to the developing world? Perhaps Bill and Melinda need to open a pharm co?

Reflections on Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis (UN 2006)

I think we have all seen videos like this before...seeing water pipes funnel through piles of human excrement and then the poor fellow down the way drinking from these pipes. I believe we understand the gravity of this problem. One thing that caught my attention was that the journalist said that in order to make dents in this problem, African governments need to make a decision today to combat this problem. While I very much agree with this statement, it may be very difficult to actually address these problems when there is so much corruption in these very governments. This corruption I'm sure makes the allocation of resources to the problems of sanitation and potable water very difficult to address. Seems like the key is, how do we make sanitation and clean water monetarily attractive for governments so that they will look at it as a business venture and rather than a public health problem? If we shift the perspective in addressing this problem, could we talk corrupt governments into properly directing funds?

Another Interesting Newsreel

Edited post....forgot to add one important point...

OK, OK, OK, I had to do it...so I know the last "newsclip" I took from google video may have been framed out of context (apparently...) but I just couldn't help myself and I wanted to post another clip from FOX News, my favorite news source. The point to this clip is that whether or not it is a spoof, it's out there and worth thinking about. And yes, while Obama may be a smoker (gasp!), I hear he's trying to quit (good for him). But interestingly, the argument that Obama has this "dirty little secret" is hardly a vice compared to our lovely president's "dirty" cocaine use and other little unreported secrets. But in all seriousness, whatever FOX news is trying to do is pretty ridiculous (perhaps a fictitious spoof or parody? or am I giving them too much credit?).

First and foremost, I cannot believe how FOX brings on an African American to discredit Barack Obama's character. As if to say, "hey everyone, this black guy thinks Barack is a big phony. If his own people distrust him, then maybe you should too!" I think these low blow strategies FOX is using are downright ludicrous. Second, I LOVE how Obama's face is plastered right next to a Marlboro box, as if FOX is trying to make it seem like he's endorsing the product. Second, I just can't believe they are making it seem like he has something dark and dirty hiding in his closet? It's just like Dr. Calderon says, "we all have skeletons in the closet!" And yes, Obama probably does too, but compared to the present administration, I bet Obama's dirty laundry is a walk in the park! I think FOX's attempts to smear Obama's reputation with these absurd allegations (just to poke fun or not) really detracts from the true potential stewardship and leadership abilities candidates have to offer. Further, pictures of Barack Obama next to Marlboro ads leaves lasting negative impressions to the uneducated viewer. Obviously, someone is threatened at FOX news. Let's talk politics and get riled up! It's fun! What do you guys think?

"Unbiased Media" Strikes Again...

In wake of the almost Hollywood-like excitement occurring over Barack Obama's official announcement for the presidency of the USA...I want to post an interesting video that I found on YouTube yesterday while I was looking for clips of his speech in Springfield, IL. It would seem that one side is very threatened by Senator Obama's charmismatic and phenomenal presence and felt the need to produce this rubbish. CNN, I'm ashamed. If this is what is considered news, then I have to say that I am happy that my homepage is set for another news site. By the way, for the record, I'm very excited about Barack Obama's announcement. :)

Just Like Us...

Who would have thought that watching Angelina Jolie in Namibia would have taught me an important life lesson? Among all the wonderful things she is doing in third world countries, she has managed to stay rooted and she left me with one important message. "The people in these poor areas are just like us...they have dreams, they want to send their children to school, they want a better life..." or something to that effect! For me, although I knew the impoverished people of Africa, Chiapas, MX, and other parts of the world were suffering and wanted a better life, it struck me that particular day when I realized they want to be educated and empowered just like we are. I know, it may seem petty that I have "just realized" this. You can imagine that I felt pretty moved by this simple discernment. I guess, for a long time, I felt like I needed to "help these people" with respect to health care and socioeconomic factors...very broad and abstract topics. But, when there is a face and someone puts it into perspective, in this case Angelina Jolie, and relates the idea in a way I can understand in my heart of hearts...my own visions become clear to me.

This was further elucidated today, as I watched the required class video on the Grameen Foundation. I saw these lovely women, who came from destitution and morphed into entrepreneurship! Amazing! We have something in common, them and I, to be successful. To create, develop, plan, collaborate, and work hard. All they needed was a chance. The answer was simple, of course, microloans to create a foundation. I always knew simplicity (Occam's Razor) provided the answers to complex problems. This was testament to that.

Chinese and Mexican Immigrants May Have Something In Common

Seems like Latin American Immigrants may have something in common with Chinese immigrants trying to gain entrance to a place with "better" health care options. According to a story published by BBC today, Chinese immigrants to Hong Kong are being denied entrance to the country if they are more than 28 weeks pregnant. Of course, the first thing I thought of was the parallels this story has to Latinos trying to enter the US. Given Hong Kong's thriving economy "capitalistic" economy, I can understand why many Chinese women prefer their children to reap these benefits. It would appear that the Hong Kong health care system is superior to that of the Chinese system if over 12,000 mainland Chinese arrived to give birth. Be it protecting the Hong Kong resources or discriminatory in nature, Hong Kong officials enacted this policy to limit the number of Chinese births in Hong Kong. What is fascinating about this article to me is that Mexicans are not the only ones looked down on upon this world for trying to give their children better opportunities in another country. I only wish I could let so many immigrants know that the care in the US is just as corrupt and full of inequities as it is in México.

Putting the "Emerging" Back into Global Health

Over the past few days, I have been toiling with with exactly what to write my class paper on. I have thrown the usuals into the basket of ideas residing in my head...alternative methods to birth control in the world, implications of genetic research, sex-trafficking in Latin America...and came up with a troubling thought...are my ideas really emerging?

We come to this MPH program as novices, students with wide eyes and empty places in our hearts ready to be filled with solutions to the injustices of the world. And with being so new, comes the fact that every idea, every injustice, every inequity, as news-breaking as it may seem to me, is often times "played-out" and overwritten to the veterans of the public health world. Knowing this, how does a MPH student really know what issues are novel and original in this sea of seemingly new information that arrives as frequently as crashing waves? I believe through patience and understanding professors can lead and encourage us to explore other public health trends rather than the traditional problems that seem attractive and up-to-date to the neophyte.

What is a public health student to do? While I understand it may be fulfilling and satiating to probe issues of injustice and exploitation in the world, I'm realizing the job of a PM565 student is to investigate new progressions in public health. What these progressions are, I hope to learn in this class.

Use of Health Care Among Undocumented Latino Immigrants

As I mentioned during our introductions, I started this public health program looking for a fresh perspective. During my third year of medical school, I was introduced to a world that I had been waiting my whole life to be a part of...Medicine. The life of a student physician. It was exciting to work in partnership with my patients, residents, physicians, and professors because it afforded me the opportunity to flex all of the life skills and clinical knowledge in a job I loved. Because I trained at the buzzling Inland Empire County institutions, Riverside and San Bernadino, the majority of the patient population was indigent and uneducated. I thrived in this atmosphere because this is exactly the population I had been wanting to work in. I thought everyone that worked there felt that way. Yet, I was mistaken. I began to hear degrading comments from my superiors, as well as fellow medical students, about the vast numbers of Spanish-speaking patients we were treating on a daily basis. At first, I tried to not let these remarks hurt me. I identified with the poor Latino population of these areas because I too, am Mexican American, and grew up in similar circumstances. Slowly, however, the remarks of many of my colleagues began to chip away at my enthusiasm and my self-esteem. I would hear that "undocumented immigrants are a drain to hard-working tax-payer money," and that "these people never take care of themselves." I knew, deep inside, that this was not the case, and it was easy for many ignorant, over-worked healthcare providers to make such blanket statements because the simply did not know the facts.

I decided to become a physician because I want to alleviate the need for culturally competent, Latino doctors within California. On July 4, 2001, 50% of all births in California are Latino. Yet, the number of health care providers that are equipped with the knowledge to adequately care for this population is shamefully low. I often wonder how physicians can compassionately deliver care to Latinos when many feel these very patients are abusing our health system. Thus, this disparity is what keeps me going during late call nights and as I sit for board exams. Now, trying to educate my fellow health care professionals about the realities of Latino immigration trends in the US is a personal goal of mine. I enrolled in the MPH program to equip myself with the proper, evidenced-based research and know-how to breakdown the stereotypes that exist in hospitals and clinics in this state. This class is affording me with the opportunities to do this.

I chose this article, "The Use of Health Care Among Undocumented Latino Immigrants," in order to share knowledge to our future generation of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc. At first, I was apprehensive to present it, because I remember the humiliating experiences of trying to defend my people without the knowledge to adequately do so. However, I have come to the realization that knowledge is power, and I take solace in that. Thankfully, there is a plethora of research that disproves many scornful, ignorant attitudes of the contributions of undocumented immigrants and their place in this country.

The purpose of this article and my oral presentation is NOT to argue the immigration issue, but to present the realities of the local globalization occurring right here in America. The Latino community, documented or not, is rapidly growing and as health care providers, we need to develop infrastructure to properly care for this population. I look forward to Thursday, and I hope to see you there!

Emerging Trends in Global Health

Why not? I remember when I was trying to decide whether I should change my MPH tract from Health Education/Promotion to Global Health Leadership at USC. I consulted with professors, friends, my fiance, etc! I can't believe I gave it sooo much thought, since now, a whole 6 months later, it's such a no brainer! Given my interest in traveling and creating health programs based on international models, Global Health Leadership fits me like a glove! I have already learned so much about managing, collaborating, and the current state of health in our world, and I feel very confident in my abilities to contribute to public health!

This class sounds very exciting, and I'm very happy to have a professor who is so interested in the professional and academic development of his students. I mean, I already received an email from Dr. Shahi asking me why I haven't logged in to Blackboard yet! That's great! I am so thankful to have a professor who is genuinely interested and who takes the time to monitor the progress of his pupils. It means a lot!

Cheers! To a great semester!