Uncovered stories and attention economics

My heart's in Accra - Uncovered stories and attention economics: "...Matt and Emily are the founders of Wedia, a new non-profit designed to call attention to undercovered humanitarian crises around the world. Their first efforts have been in matching up professional journalists and videographers with aid organizations responding to famine in Niger and other global crises, producing high-quality video that could be used by international news organizations to report on breaking stories.

Matt and Emily have discovered that there’s no shortage of undercovered stories to tell, and that journalists are deeply interested in telling these stories [...] "

sociodemographic correlates and barriers of maternal healthcare

One Source Record: "Maternal mortality and morbidity continue to be high despite the existence of national programs for improving maternal and child health in India. This could be related to several factors, an important one being non-utilization or under-utilization of maternal health-care services, especially amongst the rural poor and urban slum population due to either lack of awareness or access to health-care services. Understanding of the knowledge and practices of the community regarding maternity care during pregnancy, delivery and postnatal period is required for program implementation. Therefore, the present study was carried out to evaluate the sociodemographic correlates and barriers of maternal healthcare utilization amongst married women aged 15-45 years living in a slum in Delhi."

feedback for 11/13

• Good discussion. Not quite brought together in conclusion. Dr. Kessler’s presence and comments most welcome.
• Great class discussion. Too bad more people weren’t present.
• Really enjoyed the broad focus on media especially the focus on blogging. Neda it was great how you tied it all together at the end citing the disjoint between public health and the media. Kudjoe and Dina, I really enjoyed the scope of your presentation from the history of P.C. health to current models and examples. Thank you.
• Bennett: good solid presentation. Stimulating, considerable discussion.
• Abbas and Dowlatshahi: Basic concepts well delineated, perhaps more discussion of obstacles would be warranted; more attention to finance issues – good use of specific examples from different countries.
• Bennett: Must try to define key terms, acronyms more. Great presentation, good class participation. Still not much information on the blog.
• Great speakers! I like the discussion on media images but I feel that the topic on primary health care should be one of the earlier topics.
• Very good class participation was promoted by the presenters. Good class scenario to demonstrate primary health care.
• Well-researched slides. Please share your resources online!

more upcoming events!

Dear Heilbrunn Department, (*please forward to your networks, friends, family, and colleagues)*

Amnesty International recently released a report on sexual violence against native women, "Maze of Injustice." I wanted to alert you to this and invite you and ask you to inform any current or former students and faculty who may be interested in attending. Additionally, if there are faculty who have colleagues who are interested, please pass this along also. Thank you - Matthew Kennis, Amnesty International

Here's a link to the full report: *http://www.amnestyusa.org/women/maze/report.pdf*



You are invited to attend a reception and public program at The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. The event is being hosted by Rose Styron, Kerry Kennedy and Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA./*

*Where: *Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling Green (across from Battery Park in downtown Manhattan)
*When: *Thursday, November 15, 2007, 6 – 8 p.m.
*What: *Learn about Amnesty International’s groundbreaking report: Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA.

*/_Speakers include:_/*
*Georgia Little Shield, Executive Director, Pretty Bird Women House*
*Winona Flying Earth, Sitting Bull College and South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence*
/Hors d'oeuvres and cocktails will be served.
This event is free and open to the public. Guests are Welcome
*/RSVP to Matthew Kennis by Monday, November 12; 212-633-4169 or mkennis@aiusa.org/*



The Global Health Club, Student Physicians for Social Responsibility and
the Einstein Umbrella for Health and Social Justice invite you to attend
Global Health Night on November 29 at 7:00 PM in Robbins Auditorium.

The keynote Speaker is Stephen Lewis, formerly Canadian Ambassador to
the UN and UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Currently, Mr. Lewis
is Co-director of AIDS-Free World, an international AIDS advocacy
organization. He is also a Professor in Global Health at McMaster
University.

In addition to the lecture by Mr. Lewis, there will be presentations by
medical students on their global health projects in Bolivia and Uganda
and a brief talk by the first citizen of the USA to graduate from the
Latin American Medical School in Havana, currently a first year resident
in Primary Care at Montefiore.

announcement from Dr. Brown

The Center for Family and Community Medicine is pleased to invite you to join us for a discussion on "Tradition and Innovation in Generalism," with Kevin Grumbach, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and chief of Family and Community Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital.

Date: Thursday, November 29, 2007

Time: 4 - 6 p.m. Refreshments will be served.

Location: Russ Berrie Science Pavilion, 1st floor
(1150 St. Nicholas Avenue @ 168th Street)

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Ashley Cross at 212-304-7455 or ac2738@columbia.edu.

Background of guest speaker:

Kevin Grumbach, M.D. is professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and chief of Family and Community Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital. He is the director of the UCSF Center for California Health Workforce Studies, co-director of the UCSF Center for Excellence in Primary Care, and co-director of the Community Engagement Program for the UCSF Clinical Translational Science Institute. His research on topics such as primary care physician supply and access to care, racial and ethnic diversity in the health professions, and the impact of managed care on physicians have been published in major medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA, and cited widely in both health policy forums and the general media. He co-authored the best-selling textbook on health policy, "Understanding Health Policy - A Clinical Approach," and the recent book, "Improving Primary Care - Strategies and Tools for a Better Practice." Dr. Grumbach is co-chair of the UCSF University-Community Partnership Council, and a founding member of the California Physicians' Alliance, the California chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

This is the second lecture in the 2007-2008 "Discovering the Primary Care Imperative" series, hosted by the Center for Family and Community Medicine. www.columbiacfcm.org

From origins to implications: key aspects in the debate over the digital divide

From origins to implications: key aspects in the debate over the digital divide: "Defined as the differential extent to which rich countries and poor countries benefit from various forms of information technology (IT), the global digital divide has been extensively measured and described in national as well as international debates. The problem, however, is that the topic is highly fragmented in the literature, with few attempts to put the parts into a coherent analytical framework. More precisely, there has been no specific attempt to pinpoint the main issues that influence one's view of the importance of the digital divide and the policies demanded by the different points of view. The goal of this paper, accordingly, is to fill this important gap in the literature in an analytical schema that recognizes the ways in which the impact of innovations depends heavily on how they are generated and diffused. At each stage of this sequential process are key issues that influence one's view of the digital divide. It matters a great deal for instance on whether the divide is in some sense unique, or just another manifestation of the general technological relationship between rich and poor countries. It is also the case that the size of the divide depends heavily on how it is measured. Yet another example is that the extent of the potential impact of IT will influence our view of the foregone opportunities associated with limited uptake of this technology in developing countries."

During one month of protests, military government steps up propaganda, censorship and violence against journalists

The use of violence and censorship against Burmese journalists trying to cover the protests that began a month ago is a “detestable strategy” aimed at preventing them from doing their job, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association said today. It has been accompanied by an increase in propaganda in the state and privately-owned media controlled by the military government.

Links on Primary Health Care at www.networklearning.org/phc.html

considering the role of media in MCH

Think back to the first day of class and the Rosling presentation. The world's poorest countries are growing technological platforms faster than wealth and health. That means technological platforms will play a critical role in the later developments of health and wealth. In light of this, tomorrow's class is a critically important topic: the role of media in MCH.

Here are some resources for further exploring this topic:

The African Information Society Initiative: A Seven-year Assessment

Bienvenue sur Kidal.info: "Le site d'informations sur la région de Kidal"

Internet Computing, IEEE: Internet filtering in China

Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule - Google Books

Poverty Analysis - More than a Pretty Picture: Using Poverty Maps to Design Better Policies and Interventions

from the World Bank's PovertyNet:

Poverty Analysis - More than a Pretty Picture: Using Poverty Maps to Design Better Policies and Interventions

Rwanda aims to become Africa's high-tech hub | csmonitor.com

Rwanda aims to become Africa's high-tech hub | csmonitor.com: "The African country aims to turn itself into the 'Singapore of Africa.'"

(via My Heart's in Accra)

EVENT - Expanding Equitable Access to Emergency Obstetric Care

The Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health Fall 2007
Seminar Series

Presents:

Helen dePinho, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor of Clinical and Population Family Health
Discussing:


"Expanding Equitable Access to Emergency Obstetric Care: The Power and
Potential of Mid-Level Providers and Non-Physician Surgeons"


November 12, 2007

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

60 Haven Avenue, B2 Conference Room



Drinks will be provided. Please bring your own lunch.

EVENT - Expanding Equitable Access to Emergency Obstetric Care

The Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health Fall 2007
Seminar Series

Presents:

Helen dePinho, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor of Clinical and Population Family Health
Discussing:


"Expanding Equitable Access to Emergency Obstetric Care: The Power and
Potential of Mid-Level Providers and Non-Physician Surgeons"


November 12, 2007

12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

60 Haven Avenue, B2 Conference Room



Drinks will be provided. Please bring your own lunch.

Growth Chart controversies

This website has some great charts and discusses the current WHO efforts to redesign charts for normal breastfed infant growth patterns:

kellymom.com :: Average Growth Patterns of Breastfed Babies: "...Healthy breastfed infants tend to grow more rapidly than formula-fed infants in the first 2-3 months of life and less rapidly from 3 to 12 months. All growth charts available at this time include data from infants who were not exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months (includes formula-fed infants and those starting solids before the recommended 6 months). Because many doctors are not aware of this, they see the baby dropping in percentiles on the growth chart and often come to the faulty conclusion that the baby is not growing adequately. At this point they often recommend that the mother (unnecessarily) supplement with formula or solids, and sometimes recommend that they stop breastfeeding altogether [...]"

Welcome to Global Voices

In preparation for Tuesday's class on the media, I'd like you to take some time to explore the Global Voices website. Additionally, please get to know the new media buzz wordslike Web 2.0 or Wikimedia. Believe me: you'll need these resources in your public health careers.

Global Voices Online - Health

Bloggers find ways to speak out in Pakistan

My heart's in Accra - Bloggers find ways to speak out in Pakistan: "...In the meantime, Pakistani bloggers are trying to figure out how to approach a media environment where independent voices are being routinely silenced. Independent TV stations have been taken off the air, and there have been reports of mobile phones and internet access being blocked. (The latest news, as reported on Dr. Awab Alvi’s Teeth Maestro blog, is phone service was just restored in Islamabad.) Yet there are numerous voices coming from the Pakistani blogosphere, some from bloggers outside the country, some from inside. Awab Alvi, who is one of the leaders of the anti-censorship campaign, Don’t Block the Blog, has warned fellow bloggers to be very careful and to consider that blogging in their own names may carry the risk of arrest - he’s turned over control of his blog to Ange Embuldeniya, who is posting regular reports on Alvi’s blog. In some ways, this technique is similar to how information got out of Burma during the monks’ protests and the following crackdown - information was passed to sympathetic bloggers outside the country who posted it online [...]"

Healthy City Project | Advancement Project Los Angeles

Healthy City Project | Advancement Project Los Angeles: "The Healthy City Project is an interactive on-line website that provides free access to the most comprehensive database of health and human services in Los Angeles County. With its cutting-edge GIS mapping technology and easy to use database search features, Healthy City is an all-in-one research tool for resource referrals, policy advocacy, and resource planning. Healthy City plays an important role in addressing the resource information gap and increasing the awareness of available health and social services throughout the County."

feedback for 10/30

• Excellent! Aldermans were appropriate and terrific.
• There was a lot of medical stuff in the beginning that are confusing and without background – I was lost. I felt more could have been said on mental health.
• Weird start w/ no students but nice to have conversation with Aldermans.
• Great!
• Speaker #1: good delivery. Over use of statistics. Very broad topic, felt it did not adequately cover definitions. Wish there had been more focus on current issues, solutions & challenges. Speaker #2 did a good job of outlining the challenges. Would have been good to see a more solid connection to MCH.
• Didn’t see articles posted on blog until at least yesterday. Articles should be posted sooner – afternoon (although comment was made during the presentation).
• Good discussion by class.
• Speaker #1: I enjoyed her opinion of the mental health classification, especially her usage of the term “main health”. Excellent delivery.
• Speaker #2: I really enjoyed hearing about your personal experience with issue. Very well done!
• Good coverage that promoted excellent discussion concerned with a very broad set of topics. The Alderman’s added an important dimension to the discussion.
• Speaker #1: Excellent, effective, very broad presentation covering many aspects of the problem – covered much in the short period from medical/psychiatric/public health perspective. Interestingly presented. Good delivery of huge subject areas.
• Speaker #2: Did not led all of presentation but introduction and beginning of presentation – excellent and comprehensive.
• Nice job – both speakers. For both – when using graphs or charts, take a little more time to explain the basics – what they’re showing.

Harvard Public Health Review Winter 2007

Harvard Public Health Review Winter 2007: "A pinch of salt, a fistful of sugar, a jug of clean water. The simple elixir known as oral rehydration solution (ORS)--recently ranked No. 2 in a British Medical Journal survey of greatest health advances of the last 150 years--has saved tens of millions of people from death by infectious diarrheal diseases since the early 1970s. At the cost of a few cents, almost anyone alert enough to swallow can survive cholera, which can kill a man in four hours by draining him dry [...]"

Gene 'links breastfeeding to IQ'

A single gene influences whether breastfeeding improves a child's intelligence, say London researchers.