Month: November 2014

As health care hubs like Boston continue to advance medical technologies and standards of care, rural communities can often be left behind. The Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment (COPE) Project combats some of these health care disparities through serving the Navajo Nation.

A partnership between the Indian Health Service, Partners In Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, COPE provides treatment as well prevention programs for people living within Navajo Nation. Originally launched in 2009, the program focuses on chronic disease prevention through access to healthier foods. BWH’s Dr. Sonya Shin, an associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity and the Division of Infectious Diseases, directs the project. Continue reading “COPE Seeks to Improve Health of Families of Navajo Nation” →

The Global Health Delivery Project, a collaboration between BWH and Harvard University, has recently created an online community for health care professionals around the world to discuss Ebola treatment and containment. Started in late September, the “Ebola Response community” now has over 278 members from 65 different countries from over 240 organizations. There are several members from the most Ebola-afflicted countries, including Sierra Leone and Liberia, as well as countries that have successfully contained the disease, such as Nigeria and Senegal. Continue reading “Ebola Response Community on GHDP” →

Vin Gupta, MD, a fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at BWH, pens a piece for The Lancet Global Health Blog highlighting the need for a multinational response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

He writes: “In our globalised world, a collaborative approach is crucial, as communicable diseases know no borders. While the ethos of recent statements put forward by the WHO, the UN, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advocates for just such a response, a closer look suggests that at least in recent times, realist tendencies permeate initial responses to global pandemics. Ultimately, how we respond initially will dictate the severity of human and economic losses incurred.”

Read the full post on The Lancet Global Health Blog.