Crossing the street was the scariest thing I encountered on my first trip to India. Before I learned to weave with the traffic and dodge motorbikes and auto rickshaws, I hired a rickshaw to drive me to the other side of a road. People complain about Boston drivers, but at least they tend to stop [...]
Scalable, sustainable solutions are the Holy Grail in global public health and often just as mythical. A new article in McKinsey Quarterly discusses strategic approaches to scale profitable business models in emerging markets, specifically China, India and Brazil. The article’s main message applies to global public health: Developing a country-level strategy is insufficient because “one-size-fits-all” [...]
When I booked my ticket to Pakistan a month ago, I never predicted the United States would kill Osama Bin Laden there five days before my departure. I never doubted my decision to come, however, believing my hosts would take good care of me. I’m here to learn about Pakistan’s health care system and the [...]
A new Facebook application aims to connect maternal health practitioners globally in an effort to share information quickly, improve care and save lives. Mama: Together for Safe Births in Crisis aims to leverage something isolated midwives working in poor countries, nurses working in emergency refugee camps, and maternal health experts in resource-rich settings all have [...]
“How can you collect data and analyze it successfully when you don’t have access to technology?” An MIT student enrolled in Dr. Anjali Sastry’s Global Health Delivery Lab course recently asked that question to Dr. Pierre Barker, director of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement‘s work in developing countries. The question came after the student described [...]
The FEM-PrEP trial – looking at once-daily administration of the antiretroviral drug Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir) versus a placebo among high-risk heterosexual, HIV-negative women for preventing HIV infection – has been stopped due ineffectiveness, Family Health International announced on Monday. Here is a roundup of blog posts and articles about the trial’s early stop. FHI’s [...]
Tens of thousands of refugees have fled violence and instability in the Ivory Coast and are seeking safety and help in Liberia. Unfortunately, help has been scarce. The towns along border are overwhelmed, and a main problem now is lack of food. Christina Bethke is a friend and the program coordinator at Tiyatien Health, a [...]
Several news stories about the uneven quality of HIV prevention and treatment in the United States caught my attention recently. First, there was a Washington Post story about how the district’s efforts to decrease new cases of HIV were backsliding and NGO leaders were accusing politicians of not fulfilling promises. Washington D.C.’s HIV infection rate [...]
While nurses in high-income countries benefit from many additional resources compared with their colleagues working in resource-poor settings, both groups confront challenges in promoting adherence to HIV treatment, particularly among patients with numerous complex needs. Through a virtual discussion this week on GHDonline.org, nurses working globally are exchanging tools and strategies to promote patient adherence. [...]
On April 5, USAID Director Rajiv Shah spoke at a symposium on effective global health delivery at Harvard Medical School. After defending President Obama’s foreign aid and global health policies to critics, including Jeffrey Sachs, Shah listed USAID’s global Health priorities. These won’t surprise anyone who closely follow the Global Health Initiative politics or has [...]
At a conference on global health delivery this week at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, the permanent secretary of Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, spoke about translating evidence into to effective policy. “There is no miracle,” Binagwaho said. “It’s just to understand correctly your situation and give evidence to your policies.” Then, she said, leaders [...]
Engaging in the legislative process can pay off to benefit global health programs — even in these difficult fiscal times when Republicans and Democrats are fighting over budgets. That’s what former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) said Tuesday at a Global Health Delivery Symposium at Harvard Medical School. “By engagement you can make a difference,” Frist [...]
Over the last 30 years, breast cancer treatment has vastly improved, making mammography screening less important in reducing breast cancer mortality in developed countries. Some public health experts even say women in the United States receive too many mammograms. Yet, worldwide breast cancer is the third-most common cancer and the most common among women. Early [...]
For $130, you can provide a full delivery package of antenatal, delivery, and post-natal care to help guarantee the health of a woman and her newborn in India. LifeSpring Hospitals has developed a business model that aims to provide affordable birth care to low-income women. Normally, I don’t promote a specific organization or product on [...]
