Participants from the The Global Engagement Summer Institute showed off their development projects from summer programs in India, Uganda, Bolivia and Nicaragua on campus November 19 from 4 to 6 P.M. Here GESI Program Manager Bethany Croasmun weighs in on why these programs are so pivotal for both students and communities.
Shannon Mehner
-
Global Engagement Summer Institute Presents Development Projects from India, Bolivia, and Nicaragua
November 23, 2010 by Shannon MehnerCategory: Bolivia, General, India, Nicaragua, Uganda | Tags: blog, Bolivia, Nicaragua, The Global Engagement Summer Institute, Uganda | Comments (0)
-
HIV in Nigeria
November 22, 2010 by Shannon MehnerThere are 22.4 million people in Nigeria living with HIV, said a Fogarty scholar at a campus lecture Friday on the state of HIV in Nigeria.
And though 750,000 affected people require antiviral therapy, only 198,000 people were treated last year—about 10 percent. “This is an area that really bothers me,” said Ifeyinwa Rita Onwuatuelo, who is a visiting Nigerian scholar on a Fogarty scholarship conducting research with the Center for Global Health.
Onwuatuelo has worked since 2004 in the field of HIV/AIDS and is currently working as the Care & Support Officer at the Program Office of AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria in Abuja.
Unlike the transmission of the HIV virus in the U.S., which is mainly a result of same-gender sex, 80-95 percent of the cases in Nigeria are passed on through heterosexual intercourse. 15-30 percent are passed on to unborn babies through mothers during pregnancy.
One of the key factors driving the rapid transmission rate is an overarching belief that individuals aren’t at risk for infection, which leads to less caution in making sexual decisions. “People think ‘I cannot get it, only other people do,’” Onwuatuelo said, which is erroneous and furthers the current cycle.
Some contributing issues include inter-generational sex, sex with multiple partners, inefficient services to treat sexually transmitted infections and poverty. Another major problem is the stigma and discrimination that comes along with an HIV diagnosis, which can deter people from seeking treatment or telling others about their diagnosis.
“This is one of the biggest issues,” she said. “We need to do more to educate people so the cycle can stop.”
Developing countries such as Nigeria are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population. And the virus has a major impact on society and its institutions—“HIV places a major burden on families economically, socially and psychologically,” she said.
It can cause families to reject infected members and cause issues in terms of family unity. It can also affect a family’s economic status because diagnosed individuals might not be able to work, Onwuateleuo added. And 2.23 million children are orphaned because of AIDS in Nigeria, a number that is still growing.
Churches and community organizations may also reject people who have been diagnosed. “Religions may discriminate against the faithful [who have been infected] as sinners,“ she said, which isolates infected people who need a support system more than ever.
Some of the treatment and prevention strategies the government and NGOS are employing are HIV counseling and sexual education testing, promoting the use of condoms and increasing media campaigns and public awareness. These types of services need to be increased, she said, along with access to antiviral treatments drugs.
But with the efforts of the Nigerian government, the U.S. government and organizations such as the Bill Gates Foundation, access to treatment and prevention programs continue to grow. With a continued push for early diagnosis and treatment, education and awareness programs and more preventative strategies, HIV can be managed, Onwuatuelo stressed.
“Attitudes are gradually changing,” she said. “But it’s not just a one day thing. We have to continue fighting.”
Category: HIV/Aids, Nigeria | Tags: blog, Center for Global Health, Fogarty, HIV/Aids, Nigeria | Comments (0)
-
AMPATH: An Academic Partnership Changing Kenya
November 10, 2010 by Shannon MehnerCounterpart relationships, a community-based approach and a focus on care above all else is what makes AMPATH a success story.
The program, which is a partnership between Moi University School of Medicine and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, and a consortium of U.S. medical schools led by Indiana University, is one of Africa’s most comprehensive HIV treatment and control centers. But though it is a multi-million dollar organization supported by some of the world’s most brilliant minds, those involved say its success all boils down to good relationships.
“Everything we do is based on mutual trust and respect, and counterpart relationships [with the Kenyans],” said Megan Miller, director of development and communications for AMPATH, at a campus lecture Tuesday afternoon. Miller was at Northwestern on November 10th, as part of the Global Health Lecture Series.
The organization began 20 years when four Indiana University doctors decided they wanted to forge a relationship with Moi University School of Medicine in western Kenya. The idea was to help train health care leaders in Kenya, while at the same time giving IU medical students the opportunity to have an international health experience.
But when in the late 1990’s southern Africa’s number of HIV cases skyrocketed, Dr. Joe Mamlin, one of the founders of the program who had already spent a year on the ground, decided something must be done. “Joe said if we don’t start treating this then we just need to pack up and leave,” Miller said.
So they formed AMPATH, or Academic Model for Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, which has now been changed to Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare to reflect its ever-expanding range of activities. Starting with just 60 patients, the program is now the recipient of a $65 million grant, and is a partner with the U.S. government in AIDS relief and the World Food Program.
It also boasts a growing list of accomplishments, including: operating 25 full-time clinics and more than 30 satellite clinics, a state-of-the-art electronic medical record system, a brand new mother and baby hospital that delivers 10,000 babies a year, over $41 million in research grants, a legal aid center, a Family Sustainability Initiative to help provide families with food, jobs and training, and feeding more than 30,000 people a day, to name a few.
And the work has only just begun, with the organization expanding its scope to include areas such as primary care and chronic disease management, as well as programs to ensure water safety. But those involved always keep in mind every program must be a partnership with the community. “We will not start any initiative unless it can be run by Kenyan leaders,” Miller said.
So why expand so quickly into so many various arenas? Miller said it was a matter of necessity. “We realized really quickly that treating and preventing HIV is a comprehensive project that needs to be looked at holistically,” she said. “If someone is starving, HIV treatment isn’t going to work.”
But though the organization continues to expand at a rapid rate, the initial community-based model has not changed: care always comes first. “If you put care first, everything else follows,” Miller said. “That’s our motto.”
Category: HIV/Aids, Kenya | Tags: Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare, Ampath, blog, chronic disease management, Eldoret, Family Sustainability Initiative, global health lecture series, HIV/Aids, Kenya, Moi University School of Medicine, primary care, water safety | Comments (0)
-
How to improve Reproductive Health in Africa
November 5, 2010 by Shannon MehnerComprehensive, sustainable efforts must be taken in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve women’s reproductive and overall health, said the associate director for the Center for Global Health at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine at a campus lecture Wednesday.
Carolyn Baer
With 600,000 mothers lost annually to pregnancy-related causes and 80 percent of these deaths occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa, this is an important issue to address, said Carolyn Baer, who has worked with organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Peace Corps program. 21.1 million AIDS orphans have died in Africa and 4.2 million unsafe abortions occur in Sub-Saharan African each year, she said.
It is important to remind the public this is an issue that affects everyone, Baer added. “Reproductive health is not just a woman’s issue,” she said. “It is a husband’s issue, a son’s’ issue, a father’s issue, a community’s issue.”
The best ways to ensure a higher rate of survival is to invest in the education of boys and girls, train health care workers, end harmful practices, expand access to birth control methods, make abortion legal, safe and accessible, and improve and expand access to obstetric care, she said.
She focused specifically on four steps that can be taken within communities to address reproductive health: Safe motherhood services, prevention of rape and violence, provision of family planning, and prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Safe motherhood services include providing prenatal care, ensuring clean and safe delivery and then offering postnatal services.
“It is that first 24 hours during labor that is the most critical,” Baer explained.
Communities can also establish a referral system to get a woman in labor from home to a health care facility quickly. “Clean delivery kits” which include items such as soap, clean latex gloves and a plastic sheet, are another easy and doable precaution and can easily be gathered in local environments.
“Simple steps can yield big benefits,” Baer said.
Sexual and gender-based violence within communities is another important area that needs to be addressed. But it is important to work within communities to see what they consider to be the biggest issues of violence instead of imposing a preconceived agenda on them, she cautioned. Once definitions and concerns have been established, it is possible to put together medical services, including psychological support and counseling, as well as provide emergency contraception, Baer said.
“A lot of people are so shamed and the stigma is so great, a lot of people don’t want to talk about it,” she explained. “Communities need to figure out how to help.”
Improving family planning services means making contraceptives readily available and accessible, as well as offering patients a choice of which type is best for their lifestyle. Health care workers must also ensure confidentiality, she said.
“Gender relations needs to be considered,” she said. “And people need to be empowered to choose what works for them.”
Because in Sub-Saharan Africa access to laboratory equipment is limited, The UN recommends diagnosis of STIs be done using a syndromic approach, she said. Syndromic means asking what the patient’s symptoms are such as fever, swollen belly, etc and diagnosing according to those signs and symptoms.
“Treatment protocol based on syndromic case management should be prepared and adopted,” Baer said. “And the most effective drugs should be used at first encounter.”
All of these steps should be taken when possible to ensure better reproductive health in Sub-Saharan Africa, Baer said. “Healthy families and communities need healthy moms,” she said.
Category: HIV/Aids, Women's Health | Tags: blog, Carolyn Baer, Center for Global Health, HIV/Aids, Reproductive Health, Sub-Saharan Africa | Comments (0)
-
Will Butler: ‘Connect with your community’
November 3, 2010 by Shannon Mehner
Will Butler - Arcade Fire
It is essential to connect with a specific community and identify its needs before you jump in to help, said musician Will Butler at a campus event kicking off The Civically Engaged Young Alumni Week yesterday evening.
Butler, who is a 2005 Weinberg graduate and a multi-instrumentalist in the award-winning band The Arcade Fire, whose first album Funeral came out his senior year at Northwestern, has taken on Haiti as his preferred cause along with the rest of the band members. He emphasized the crusade is personal because his sister-in-law and fellow band mate Régine Chassagne is Haitian.
“[Haiti] is part of our community as a band,” he said to the audience of more than 100 students, fans and faculty that gathered at the Donald P. Jacobs Center. “If we weren’t successful we’d still be giving money to Haiti.”
Since the band’s initial success in 2005 they have been committed to using their influence to help Haiti. The band has given almost a million dollars to Partners in Health, the global health organization founded by Dr. Paul Farmer and featured in Mountains beyond Mountains, this year’s selection for One Book One Northwestern.
The Arcade Fire chose to support PIH’s efforts in Haiti because it is “the most efficient” and is “rooted in the love of a specific community,” he said. Farmer is operating in an impassioned way that is more effective than any other organization, Butler said.Most of the money has come from a $1 surcharge on every The Arcade Fire concert ticket that goes directly to Farmer’s organization, which has also raised awareness, he said. “We do things that are so easy it’s stupid not to do them,” he said, adding their efforts have been magnified by their success, and downplaying the band’s obvious commitment to social justice.
But it is important to truly understand the community you wish to serve and feel a personal connection to it, he said, or else organizations can cause serious harm. “This isn’t a call for inaction, it’s a call for caution,” he said. A simple Google search can help people who wish to donate or volunteer know which organizations and individuals are effective, he added.
And serving doesn’t necessarily mean being on the ground doing the work. Butler has never been to Haiti, but is trying to do his part through raising money and awareness for Paul Farmer, he said, who is actively engaged in the Haitian community and understands how to best help that community.
“Do something useful for someone doing useful,” he said. “Just learning about everything is really helpful.”
Category: Haiti, Natural Disaster | Tags: Arcade Fire, blog, Center for Civic Engagement, Civially Engaged Young Alumni Week, Civic Engagement, Haiti, One Book One Northwestern, Partners in Health, Paul Farmer | Comments (0)
