A nurse educator, Dr. Varine Menh and Dr. Hudson gather in the exam room that served as the diabetes clinic.
Margo Hudson, MD, of BWH Endocrinology, contributes this piece about her global health work in Cambodia.
“Is there diabetes in Cambodia?” was a frequent question posed to me when I told my BWH colleagues that I was heading to Phnom Penh this summer to help a small hospital launch a new outpatient diabetes program.
The hospital is the Sihanouk Hospital Center of HOPE which, like most Cambodian health facilities, is heavily sponsored by charitable organizations, in this case the global charity HOPE Worldwide. It has a 30-bed acute inpatient facility, as well as a large outpatient facility and maintains 2 emergency rooms. Continue reading “Diabetes in the Developing World”→
BWHers are known for reaching out to help those in need, even when they’re thousands of miles away. Many volunteer through organized programs like Team Heart and Operation Walk Boston, while others learn about opportunities through friends, family or colleagues at BWH. Pathology resident Brooke Howard, MD, and pathologists’ assistant Lindsey Cheney are two staff members who committed themselves to making global contributions this year. Continue reading “Serving our Global Community on Medical Missions”→
Bwhglobalhealthhub x DressHead Casual Pencil Dress – Crisp Woven Fabric / Amazing Color
This pencil casual dress inspired by bwhglobalhealthhub x http://www.dresshead.com/c/casual-dresses/ has some amazing features that allow it stand out and look great no matter where you plan to wear it. It has been created with a crisp woven fabric in an amazing color. The neckline is a wrap design that also includes cut out detail. You will notice that it has a wrap skirt as well so it is not a simple pencil dress like you would expect. The thigh split gives you the ability to move with ease. Zip back fastening ensures that you always feel secure and you do not have to worry about buttons. The close cut bodycon fit will allow you to show off your curves. The casual dress can be machine washed and ready to wear whenever you need it. Simply follow the care instructions on the tag to keep it looking great.
When you only have two pathology laboratories in a country of 10 million people, clinicians often have to make treatment decisions without pathology results. This was the case in Rwanda, until BWH joined with other organizations to reduce turn-around times and ultimately build capacity in the country’s pathology labs.
When you only have two pathology laboratories in a country of 10 million people, clinicians often have to make treatment decisions without pathology results. This was the case in Rwanda, until BWH joined with other organizations to reduce turn-around times and ultimately build capacity in the country’s pathology labs.
Rajesh Panjabi, MD, an associate physician in BWH's Department of Medicine, was recently recognized by Good Magazine, the Segal Family Foundation, and the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation for his commitment to saving the lives of women and children in the remote villages of Liberia.
Panjabi was nominated by Good Magazine to the GOOD100, a list that includes ideas and projects that are “pushing the world forward”. Panjabi was nominated for Last Mile Health, an organization he co-founded that trains former patients and other non-medical community members called Frontline Health Workers (FHWs) to become health advocates. By recruiting, hiring, equipping, and integrating these FHWs into the existing public health system, Last Mile Health is pioneering a system to bring health care directly into hard-to-reach, last mile villages.
Panjabi also accepted the Segal Family Foundation's Rising Star Award for his continued work in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Segal Family Foundation supports grassroots organizations directly, and through connecting them with innovative ideas, technical expertise, and capacity-building opportunities.
Finally, Panjabi's organization, Last Mile Health, won a prestigious three-year grant from the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRKF), and Panjabi was added to the DRKF portfolio of social entrepreneurs. The Draper Richard Kaplan Foundation is a venture philanthropy fund that supports early-stage nonprofits that have the potential to change the world.
To learn more about the work Last Mile Health does in Liberia, please visit www.lastmilehealth.org.
Patrick Elliot, MD, MPH, of BWH’s Division of Global Health Equity, contributes this post about his work with Compañeros en Salud México.
Dr. Patrick Elliott, left, and Dr. Enrique Valdespino perform a prenatal ultrasound for a patient in Valdespino's clinic in Reforma. Photo by Balam-ha' Carrillo, Shoot4Change Mexico
A hot cup of coffee is an almost universal invitation to friendship and conversation, and it’s never truer than in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. On Mexico’s southern border, Compañeros en Salud México (CES), a sister project of Partners In Health, has been working in several rural, coffee-growing communities to strengthen the healthcare system alongside the state government of Chiapas. In six rural pueblos in the mountains of Chiapas, the physicians of CES live and work alongside the people of the community. The lived reality of the community is shared by both patients and our doctors and opens new paths to discoveries, conversations and quite a few hot cups of coffee.
I began work with CES in February 2012, shortly after it officially began operations. At first, my work largely consisted of assisting in public sector community clinics that CES helps administer, seeing patients alongside the social service physicians who operate the clinics and are the heart of the organization. The social service physicians (pasantes) are recently-graduated medical students who must complete a year of required service before gaining eligibility for independent practice or entrance into residency. The pasantes and I would see patients together in the clinic, discuss cases and management options and in the evenings make house calls to patients who were too sick, infirm or who had simply failed to come to clinic during the day. As night fell across the town, we’d sometimes sit on the clinic roof and watch the stars. Continue reading “Hot Coffee”→
Patrick Elliot, MD, MPH, of BWH’s Division of Global Health Equity, contributes this post about his work with Compañeros en Salud México.
Dr. Patrick Elliott, left, and Dr. Enrique Valdespino perform a prenatal ultrasound for a patient in Valdespino's clinic in Reforma. Photo by Balam-ha' Carrillo, Shoot4Change Mexico
A hot cup of coffee is an almost universal invitation to friendship and conversation, and it’s never truer than in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. On Mexico’s southern border, Compañeros en Salud México (CES), a sister project of Partners In Health, has been working in several rural, coffee-growing communities to strengthen the healthcare system alongside the state government of Chiapas. In six rural pueblos in the mountains of Chiapas, the physicians of CES live and work alongside the people of the community. The lived reality of the community is shared by both patients and our doctors and opens new paths to discoveries, conversations and quite a few hot cups of coffee.
I began work with CES in February 2012, shortly after it officially began operations. At first, my work largely consisted of assisting in public sector community clinics that CES helps administer, seeing patients alongside the social service physicians who operate the clinics and are the heart of the organization. The social service physicians (pasantes) are recently-graduated medical students who must complete a year of required service before gaining eligibility for independent practice or entrance into residency. The pasantes and I would see patients together in the clinic, discuss cases and management options and in the evenings make house calls to patients who were too sick, infirm or who had simply failed to come to clinic during the day. As night fell across the town, we’d sometimes sit on the clinic roof and watch the stars. Continue reading “Hot Coffee”→
“I had this preventable disease when I was a kid, lost some relatives to it and saw it ravage communities. That’s why I became a health scientist. I want to find novel strategies for strengthening malaria control and elimination.”
This week, Mharakurwa is moderating a GHDonline expert panel to discuss the current and future state of career opportunities for health scientists in disease-endemic countries.
The older members of our group (Jamie, Whit and me) have taken several days to adjust to the time difference and the altitude. The teens of course look like they don’t have any idea what we are talking about when we complain of feeling tired, light headed and short of breath at times. We are at a similar altitude as Denver, it being ‘the mile high city’. We are all well on this fifth day.
I’m feeling the comfort of coming back to Guatemala having visited in April 2012. Familiar faces, expected changes in the pace, climate, walking conditions (rough cobblestones everywhere), etc. Of course it didn’t keep me from feeling anxious all over again about the talks I had planned for the social workers and psychologists of Common Hope. The first talk was on Resiliency and Positive Psychology. The second talk was on Motivational Interviewing. My major challenge was wondering how it was going to be to have me speaking English while my slides had been translated in to Spanish and then to have an interpreter playing go between. Thankfully, I had gotten excellent advise from Joji Suzuki, MD, from the addiction psychiatry department after practicing at our Motivational Interviewing practice group. He had suggested I try to speak more like a Ted Talk and less like a lecturer. Good advice for a talk in any country!
