NEWSBYLILLIAN GU

(photo credit: Muffet)

Basics

This week, your Global Health Guide Alanna Shaikh has a great post on AIDS Advocacy- How to Do It, and How Not To. It includes great writing and videos as well as not-so-great and disturbing print advertisements about HIV.

Did you know that Inequity and Inequality Are Bad for the Health of the Rich Too? Guest blogger Michael Keizer explains that lessening inequalities within countries improves the average health status of the entire population, and posits that this may be true on an international level, too.

Where do you get your global health news? Guest blogger Mara Gordon wonders if Global Health Will Be a Casualty of Mainstream Media's Decline and asks former Washington Post editor Maralee Schwartz for her thoughts.

At this point, swine flu may seem like old news, but Alanna explains why parents with little kids should pay special attention to the swine flu, and take the proper precautions. On the other hand, "doing something" is not always necessary for the body to health. Read about how Alanna experienced a culture gap while trying to dissuade a Tajik mother from giving her child antibiotic shots for a sore throat.

News & Analysis

Senator Ted Kennedy passed away on Tuesday, and many people have spoken of his contribution to US healthcare, but Alanna explains why he was also a great hero in global health. Senator Kennedy was a champion for the Alma-Ata Declaration, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and the right to health in general.

On Wednesday, China admitted to the link between executed prisoners and organ donations, and Alanna is stunned. She wonders what they're not saying.

While the drug for medical abortions, mifepristone, was expected to bring about widespread abortion access in the US, a recent report says that this isn't true. Alanna speculates this is because the barrier to abortion access was never medical capacity, but the willingness of healthcare providers to provide abortions.

Career Advice

Where are the US Based Global Health Jobs? Alanna's answer: Washington, DC or Seattle, but runner-ups are Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia.

Kudos

Our comment of the week is from Catee Lalonde, who disagrees with Michael Keizer's take on global health equity in the Why We Can't Have It All post and earns a charity gift on Change.org! Check out Catee's comment here.

(image credit: brain_malfunction)

Basics

This week is packed with great articles on global health. To start off, check out this post by your Global Health Guide Alanna Shaikh: Four Reasons Everyone Should Care About Global Health. On World Humanitarian Day, Alanna gives us a call to action and a list of 5 ideas for how to make a difference in the world.

Also, guest blogger Michael Keizer examines whether or not the US health system is "inequitable" based on Dahlgren and Whitehead's definition of inequity. Technical definition aside, many people in the US believe that healthcare reform is overdue, and Alanna predicts that health care reform will result in Less Research and Development from Drug Companies - which will be a good thing.

News & Analysis

This week brings some disheartening global health news. One study in Atlanta, Georgia found that "mosquitoes living in contaminated streams lay more eggs, and those eggs grow into bigger mosquitoes that fly faster and reproduce more than those in clean water." Another study in Brazil found that an intervention promoting solar water disinfection had no impact on diarrhea incidence whatsoever.

At least the water disinfection intervention did not have a negative health effect like the live, oral polio vaccine; it's reported that 124 Nigerian children have been paralyzed by the polio vaccine this year because of mutations in the live, attenuated virus. Not surprisingly, living in slums is also detrimental to your health. A recent NEJM study shows that people living in megacity slums are less healthy than people in rural areas. Also harmful are deceiving Homeopathic Treatments (i.e. water in fancy packaging) that prevent people from seeking real treatment for HIV, malaria, TB, influenza and infant diarrhea.

In light of the H1N1 flu outbreak, guest blogger Carol Dunn has been addressing the issue of pandemic flu preparedness. In this final post, she outlines both behavior and policy changes for people to avoid the worst effects of pandemic flu.

Career Advice

Looking for an internship? Alanna gives some useful tips on how to identify good internships from the job description, as well as in the interview.

Kudos

Our comment of the week is from Scot Frank on the What Can Crowdsourcing Do for Global Health? post. Scot tells us about Citizen Water who is already using crowdsourcing to magnify their impact. Remember to share your thoughts with us in the comments, so you can be the next winner, and earn a charity gift on Change.org.

(photo credit: jpereira_net)

Basics

MDR and XDR, NRL and SNRL: do you have your tuberculosis acronyms down? Your global health guide Alanna compiled a useful list of Tuberculosis Acronyms You Need to Know.

Guest blogger Michael Keizer makes a compelling case for Why We Can't Have It All as he explores three reasons why we can't allocate all available resources to resolving health inequities.

To better understand the current field of global health, check out Alanna's post on Global Health Futures: Smaller, More Local Aid Efforts. She explains the evolution of global health efforts in terms of stages, and predicts that we're on the verge entering a stage where "global health isn't about wealthy countries anymore."

Crowdsourcing is an increasingly popular problem-solving method. You pose a question online, and have the "crowd" help out. But What Can Crowdsourcing Do for Global Health? Alanna sees some potential uses in testing educational materials, translation, and answering health questions.

News & Analysis

Mumbai closed all of their schools, universities and movie theaters last week in response to an increase in swine flu cases in Maharashtra state. Commenter Patrick Mayne tells us that, four hours from Mumbai, the city of Pune is in full-scale panic mode after they went from 0 deaths to 10 deaths in the matter of two weeks.

In better swine flu news, some new evidence suggests that not only is there no "deadlier form" of swine flu on its way, there may not be a second wave of swine flu at all.

Career Advice

Should I get a job or go to grad school? Answer: Get a job. Alanna points out that working will help you decide on what kind of degree to pursue, increase your chances of getting in to graduate school, and help you mature and develop self-discipline.

Kudos

Our comment of the week is from William Tarpai, on the Peace Corps Is What You Make of It post. As a former Peace Corps Volunteer, William shares his hopes and expectations for the future of Peace Corps and the recently confirmed Director, Aaron Williams. Remember to share your thoughts with us in the comments, so you can be the next winner, and earn a charity gift on Change.org.

(Mosquito larvae. Photo credit: Alvaro Rodriguez)

Basics

This week, global health guide Alanna Shaikh gives us Malaria Prevention in a Nutshell, and explains the four main ways to reduce transmission: bednets, indoor residual spraying, habitat reduction, and preventative treatment.

Last week, guest blogger Michael Keizer defined an inequality as inequitable if it is "avoidable, unnecessary, and unfair." This week, he responds to commenter Catee Lalonde's critiques on this definition in his post, Is being a couch potato inequitable? Or hard questions about inequities.

News & Analysis

There has been some Good News and Bad News this week. The good news is that tuberculosis incidence could be reduced by half by 2050, but the bad news is that a new strain of HIV has been discovered. (Also check out this post for interesting tidbits on chimpanzees and orangutans.)

USAID Needs a Leader! The current acting administrator, Alonzo Fulgham, is doing three jobs, and we need a permanent USAID leader. Sign Alanna's letter to President Obama asking him to appoint an administrator ASAP.

A guest post from Andre Blackman asks the question, Are We Developing the Right Vaccines? As scientists develop the H1N1 vaccine, they are also stockpiling vaccines against smallpox, a great potential biological weapon. However, Andre points out that certain efforts are leaving out roughly 80 million Americans who are immunosuppressed.

In this week's Friday Futures, Alanna predicts that the world won't run out of food anytime soon, but loss of variety in our diet will put us at a greater risk of losing food sources to diseases.

Guest blogger Carol Dunn outlines six reasons why Horrible Outcomes Don't Change Behavior, and why pandemic risk communicators need to stop using ‘the horrible outcome' as an emotional lever for funding and action.

Career Advice

Last week, Alanna wrote about the Pros and Cons of the Peace Corps. Former Peace Corps volunteer Molly Mattessich thinks Peace Corps is What You Make of It. Her own experience in Mali had a ripple effect on her family and friends, "making the world seem a little bit smaller."

One reader asks, How Do You Stay a Generalist? Alanna did so by being proactive in seeking out opportunities in her work and becoming known as a writer and a manager, rather than a public health specialist. Another reader asks, How Do You Sell Your Writing skills? Alanna suggests putting it in resume summary section as well as selling it in the cover letter.

Kudos

This week's Comment of the Week was by Theo Smart. Theo offers a new perspective on global funding for maternal health. Remember to share your thoughts with us in the comments, so you can be the next winner, and earn a charity gift on Change.org.

(photo credit: sherrattsam)

Basics

Living in Central Asia, Alanna has first-hand experience with the pesky little sandflies that transmit the tropical disease leishmaniasis. Read her post Five Things to Know About Leishmaniasis to learn all about it. Also, learn about the five medical conditions that account for 80% of maternal deaths: severe bleeding, infections, hypertensive disorders, obstructed labor, and unsafe abortions.

As a first post in the series, "Things That Work," Alanna talks about Health Visitors: nurses, doctors or trained volunteers that conduct home visits and give people basic health education and care. Health visitors are one way to increase health care access, but What Does Access to Medical Care Really Mean? Alanna explains three main forms of access: geographic, financial, and cultural. And guest blogger Michael Keizer teases apart the differences between inequities and inequalities in his post The Health Equation.

News & Analysis

News broke out on Tuesday that the Cambodian government has been relocating people living with AIDS into a de facto "AIDS colony," one without clean water or sanitary facilities.

This week's Friday Futures explores Obesity. Alanna warns that, with increased meat consumption and urbanization, the developing world that is at risk for a rise in obesity. But urbanization is not just a risk factor for obesity. Given the higher population density and lack of healthcare in slums, Alanna thinks that Swine Flu is Going to Hit Megacities Hard.

Alanna has written about the Guttmacher Institute study that found withdrawal may be an effective method of birth control. In response to a New York Times article about this study, guest blogger Mara Gordon explores the tricky question, "What is a publication's responsibility when it comes to controversial health news?"

Career Advice

Alanna gives the pros and cons to Joining the Peace Corps as part of your global health career. One key point to remember is that the Peace Corps is not an international development organization, but a US public diplomacy agency. Also, you may be interested in a Very Interesting Vacancy at Center for Global Development (CGD). Alanna thinks the CGD is "the clearest, sanest voices out there on global development and health."

(photo credit: zedzap)

Remember learning about African Trypanosomiasis, last week? This week, Alanna tells us Five Things to Know About Chagas Disease, which is American Trypanosomiasis. The two diseases are caused by related, but different parasites.

"Money makes the world go round," the saying goes. And it certainly shapes health care delivery. Alanna breaks down health care financing for us by asking two big questions, "Who Pays for Health Care?" (Single-payer or multi-payer?) and "How Does the Money Move?" (On what basis are health care providers paid?)

Alanna explains that she's Against a Global Fund for Maternal Health because "programs with a single-issue focus don't strengthen health systems." This leads to the question of What Are Health Systems and How Do We Strengthen Them? Alanna's post answers this systematically.

Guest blogger Carol Dunn continues her series on Fear, Sex, and Pandemic, arguing that pandemic preparedness advocates made swine flu feel like a real threat, but didn't do a good job conveying the actions needed. (This was Part Five; also check out Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four).

This week's Friday Futures explores Medical Exploitation. From organ cells to gestational surrogates to clinical trials, various disparities make the poor vulnerable to exploitation.

Career Advice

How do you balance Marriage, Family, and Your Global Health Career? Alanna shares wisdom she's gained from her own experiences. Also, be sure to check out her interview with a Health Policy Analyst to learn the pros and cons about the think tank environment.

Kudos

Member of the Month is a new feature on the Global Health blog, where we learn more about a member who has contributed with insightful and engaging discussion. Meet July's Member of the Month - Patrick Mayne, and feel free to nominate someone by contacting Mariam Mostamandy. Lastly, this week's Comment of the Week was submitted by Robert Marten on the Against a Global Fund for Maternal Health post. Don't forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments, so you can be the next winner, and earn a charity gift on Change.org.

(photo credit: ronocdh)

Add to your medical knowledge this week! Read up on Obstetric Fistulas, holes between the vagina and the bladder and/or the rectum due to difficult childbirth, Trypanosomiasis, a parasitic disease carried by the Tsetse fly, and Rabies, a viral disease that is usually transmitted by an animal bite. And why hasn't polio been eradicated yet? Alanna pins it to failures in health systems.

Guest blogger Carol Dunn continues exploring the connections between Fear, Sex, and Pandemic, concluding that pandemic flu preparedness advocates didn't do such a good job in understanding these connections. (This was Part Four; be sure to check out Part One, Part Two and Part Three).

Guest blogger Michael Keizer argues for gendered health, "a thoughtful recognition of differences in gender whenever we consider a (global) health issue" in his post, Women's Health is a Red Herring (And So is Men's).

In this week's Friday Futures, Alanna discusses the cat and mouse chase between Counterfeit Medicine and the technology that detects it, such as RFID tags and low-cost mass spectrometry.

Alanna's Recommended Reading has interesting articles on swine flu, mobile phones and health, and circumcision and HIV. Also check out her recommendations for Bridge Blogs, blogs which help outsiders understand a culture. And if you are inspired to start your own blog, take a look at What Not to Blog for tips for new global health bloggers.

Lastly, this week's Comment of the Week was submitted by Nneoma N on the Trypanosomiasis post. Don't forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments, so you can be the next winner, and earn a charity gift on Change.org!

(image credit: Belltown Messenger)

At the G8 Summit last week, a 40-page declaration on "Responsible Leadership for a Sustainable Future" touched on global health. Alanna gives us the highlights in her post, The G8 and Global Health. In other news, there may be a Shotgun Wedding between the World Bank, the Global Fund, and the GAVI alliance focusing on health systems strengthening. With all of these large, multi-lateral organizations, there is still No One in Charge of global health, and Alanna argues that that's okay.

In the last posting in the series on global health and human rights, guest blogger Michael Keizer examines The Rights-Based Approach to Global Health, while guest blogger Carol Dunn continues last week's Fear, Sex, and Pandemic - Part One with Part Two and Part Three. She discusses how advertisers use our primitive reactions to danger and sex to manipulate us (ie with naked flight attendants), and how it makes sense that we are not in a constant state of risk response.

There are two great interviews to check out this week. First, guest blogger Mara Gordon's interviewed New York Times reporter, Denise Grady on Mainstream Media and Global Health and on her recent "Death in Birth" series. Secondly, Alanna pulled out highlights from AMSA's interview with Julio Frenk, dean of Harvard's School of Public Health, and former Minister of Health for Mexico.

Career Wednesday brings some potentially surprising advice, such as how Your Parents Can't Help and When Not to Volunteer. In this week's Friday Futures, Alanna discusses Social Media and Global Health, and how it can be used to build communities of practice, encourage better storytelling, remove stigma, and utilize crowdsourcing.  And don't forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments, so that you can, like Phi Pham or Sara Larson have before, win the Comment of the Week.

(Photo Credit: Hugh Sturrock. Wellcome Images)

June 27 was US National HIV Testing Day. Do you know your status? Alanna tells her own Experience Getting Tested for HIV, and offers the advice, "Getting tested for HIV is hard the first time, but it gets easier. And if you do have HIV, getting tested will save your life."

This wee, guest blogger Michael Keizer shows how Global Health and Human Rights are Made for Each Other; better health improves human rights, and ensuring human rights improves health.

In light of the bad economy, many people are flocking to graduate school, but Alanna spells out for us When Not to Go to Grad School. Also, if you have trouble getting things done, check out Alanna's useful tips for Being Productive.

In last week's "Friday Futures," Alanna predicted The End of the Physician. She expanded her thoughts a bit further in her post, Supporting Physicians to Improve Health Care, arguing that healthcare needs to be a team effort between physicians, non-physician clinicians and technology. And in this week's "Friday Futures", Alanna warns of The Growing Threat of Malaria.

In her post, Fear, Sex, and Pandemic - Part One, guest blogger Carol Dunn comments on the initial over-reaction, and the current under-reaction to swine flu, stating that pandemic risk communicators need to understand the irrationality of human reaction to threats.

Alanna gave an overview on a recently released report on Innovative Financing for Health Systems, concluding that that there's No Magic Bullet for getting more money for health.

For more global health reading, check out this week's Recommended Readings to learn about Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYS), a new female condom effort in Uganda, swine flue resistance, and more.

(A midwife in CAR. Photo credit: hdptcar)

Have you ever had trouble talking to others about global health? If so, check out Alanna's tips on How to Talk about Global Health Without Boring People.

This week, Alanna has lots of useful and informative background posts (with self-explanatory titles): Five Things to Know About Leprosy, Advance Market Commitments for Vaccines, and Five Things to Know about Midwives. For more reading material, there's always Alanna's Recommended Readings.

Guest blogger Michael Keizer continues his exploration of Global Health vs Human Rights, and discusses instances where public health considerations are used to justify limits on human rights.

Social media has garnered a lot of attention lately, but Alanna explains why she doesn't think it's a magic bullet for health in her post, Social Media and Global Health. In the comments, reader Greg Goldgof's example of how social media can help bring telemedicine to rural Kenya earned him the prestigious Comment of the Week.

Thinking about a career in global health? Check out Alanna's low-down on The Realities of a Global Health Career, as well as her tips on How to Stay Employed in Global Health.

Last week, Alanna predicted The End of the Condom in the new feature, "Friday Futures". This week brings another shocking prediction: Advanced diagnostic algorithms and mid-level healthcare providers may bring The End of the Physician.

Lastly, a guest post by Incia Zaffar gives us a call to action on Holding Leaders Accountable to their promises in scaling up global health programs.