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Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of our growing newsletter! Volume 1, Number 2 News and Reports 1) Our new book…! “Change the world.” It always struck me that saying that sounded a lot like grandiose hubris, or at best, a dauntingly overwhelming task. The utter impossibility of it seemed certain until I realized that it can mean helping one person at a time. That is a theme you’ll see throughout this book and our websites and our work. I have added some of my Linkedin Influencer blogs/essays that I hope may be inspirational, also. The format of this book is inspired by Brian Eno’s A Year with Swollen Appendices, not so much the diary aspect but rather the overwhelmingly large collection of information in the various appendices. Additionally, this book is an “analog” version, if you will, of the content and links found at the CenterForGlobalInitiatives.org website and the associated DropBox account. 1
Open-Sourced Humanitarian Interventionism It’s long been my goal to make life easier for those working in humanitarian and volunteer endeavors, as well as those in need of help. Indeed, in one way or another, we all need help in one form or another. So, just about everything you find herein and on the Center’s website, is free of charge. This is my dream of open-sourcing humanitarian work. Current-Content-For-Pretty-Close-To-Forever. The reason for this “reverse engineering” is twofold. First, the amount of content and links on the Center’s website may not always be apparent to the novel user. This book allows for near complete exposure to the functional tools and content that await the online user. Second, this book will never be out-of- date, in that when new content becomes available via uploads to the DropBox account, you’ll be able to read that as well. I curate the content constantly. And, all proceeds from sales of this book will be donated to the Center for Global Initiatives. http://tinyurl.com/CGIFieldguide 2) Shout out to Lara Weber, thanks for this new resource: http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource- guides/global-health#.VB7fUvldX8Q 3) Sanford International Clinic in Ghana Good friend, Andy Wentzy, MBA, Director, Sanford Initiatives, Development & Research, of Sanford Health reports Jim and Matt have been in Ghana, among other places; and I wanted share with Newsletter readers their growing Sanford International Clinic activities. The link below reflects their agreements for development in Ghana which will bring needed primary care services to developing and remote portions of the sub-Saharan African nation. While their health system’s operations continue to grow and thrive in the environment of health care reform in the US, they have “doubled down” on our commitments to development overseas as well. Learn more at: http://www.sanfordhealth.org/newsroom/2014/ 08/Ghana-World-Clinics-by-2020 2
4) “Population-Level Behavior Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of the Evidence” now available A newly released supplement to the Journal of Health Communication applies high standards of evidence to the review of health communication and behavior change programs. Titled Population-Level Behavior Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of the Evidence, this supplement is the result of a 2013 Evidence Summit to determine which evidence-based interventions and strategies support a sustainable shift in health-related behaviors. The articles in this supplement are a mix of evidence of the remarkable successes and effective interventions in behavior change as well as a series of real gaps in knowledge and data. The articles on focus behavior change in all forms: at the individual, community and health systems levels; in gender and stigma and discrimination; and through mHealth, social media and mass media. Learn more Read this supplement: Population-Level Behavior Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of the Evidence. Learn more about the 2013 Population-Level Behavior Change Evidence Summit for Global Health. Follow along on Twitter using #Promise4Children. 5) FundaMentalSDG New friend, Kathryn Goetzke, is working with a group of global mental health advocates on a project called www.FundaMentalSDG.org, working to get mental health incorporated in the post millennium development goals currently being finalized by the United Nations. As many Newsletter readers know, they have major implications for mental health and human rights, and are currently absent. Please visit their site to learn more. 3
6) GEANCO teams up with the Clinton Global Initiative Our good friends at GEANCO are leading a special Clinton Global Initiative to fight anemia in Nigeria. Anemia is a dangerous scourge, but we are fighting it hard in Nigeria. Anemia is a condition in which not enough healthy red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. The poor blood oxygen levels and blood vessel blockages that result lead to chronic, agonizing pain, severe infections, organ failure and potential death. Nigeria has the world's largest anemia-afflicted population - 75% of its children have the condition, and 1 out of every 5 maternal deaths can be traced to anemia. Through the Clinton Global Initiative, we have partnered with the renown medical technology company Masimo Inc. to screen and treat women and children in Nigeria for anemia. We are 1 of only 3 partners in all of Africa to use Masimo's innovative, noninvasive handheld hemoglobin monitors to quickly and painlessly screen Nigerians. Learn more at: http://www.geanco.org/clinton-global-initiative.html Ebola and Infectious Disease Related The Ebola virus is ravaging West Africa. More than a public health crisis, it has also exposed severe governance challenges in the region. Listen to Abdul Tejan-Cole, head of Open Society’s foundation in West Africa, talk about civil society’s response to the outbreak. http://youtu.be/ LrASaBA7Ouc Aggregated News Reports from: A Threat to World Peace Calling Ebola a threat to world peace, the UN Security Council adopted a unanimous emergency resolution calling on states to send more aid, with 130 nations as co-sponsors. The Security Council has weighed in on a public health crisis only once before, the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Almost $1 billion is needed to respond, said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, calling for more health experts, field hospitals and medical supplies. The Guardian 4
Time for a Global Health Workforce Reserve? As the Ebola crisis exposes a severe health worker shortage in West Africa, the world needs a reserve of health care workers, argue Michele Barry, director of the Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health, and Lawrence Gostin, director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. Modeled on the U.S. military reserve forces, the Global Health Workforce Reserve would be managed by WHO or the UN. Until poor countries build up their own health workforces, a reserve force could help in the interim. This is especially true for Africa, which bears 25% of the global disease burden, but holds just 3% of the world's health workers. Los Angeles Times (Op-ed) Look to the Long Term Liberia’s civil war had destroyed 354 of Liberia’s 550 medical facilities, according to Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks of MASS Design Group, but the government was actively planning to revamp decaying structures and reforming its health systems. Then Ebola swept in, plunging Liberia into emergency mode and forcing it to abandon such pursuits. Murphy and Ricks argue that there is opportunity in the tragedy of Ebola to plan intelligently, so that some of the funding that flows to the country goes toward badly needed, long-term infrastructure, not just cobbled-together emergency tents. The Boston Globe (Opinion) Obama Sends More Muscle The US will step up assistance and leadership in the West Africa Ebola fight, including expanded military, medical resources and up to 3,000 personnel. Beyond the Pentagon’s promised 25-bed portable hospital, the US will construct as many as 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with about 1,700 beds. It will also open a joint command in Monrovia, Liberia to coordinate international efforts. The New York Times coverage includes a critique by Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota (CIDRAP), who praised this first step but said it is insufficient and too narrowly focused on Liberia. The New York Times Virus Hunter American virologist Joseph Fair recounts an arduous journey—which is far from over—into the heart of the Ebola outbreak. Soon after the WHO recruited him in March as a consultant, the virus spiraled out of control. Fair has worked 7 days a week, at times begging international groups for staff and supplies. He’s watched doctors and nurses—friends he’s known for years—get infected and die. He sweated out his own Ebola scare. In 2 weeks, he heads to Washington D.C. for a congressional panel discussion on Ebola, joining CDC Director Tom Frieden. “If the worldlets me,” Fair says, “I won’t let this ever happen again.” Washington Post Related: UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Ebola crisis Thursday – ReliefWeb http://reliefweb.int/report/liberia/un-security-council-hold-emergency-meeting-ebola Related: Ebola hospital workers walk out over pay – AlJazeera http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/09/ebola-hospital-workers-walk-out-over-pay- 20149134402459279.html Related: Interactive: Explore an Ebola Care Centre – MSF http://www.msf.org/article/interactive-explore-ebola-care-centre 5
Related: West African powerhouse Ivory Coast battles to keep out Ebola – Thomson Reuters Related: Fear of Ebola Drives Mob to Kill Officials in Guinea–The New York Times Related: IMF proposes $127M for three Ebola-hit countries in W. Africa – Retuers Africa Upcoming Conferences and Events 1) 1st Global Sex Trafficking Conference Good friend, Kalyani Gopal, Ph.D., HSPP, President, SAFE Coalition for Human Rights, notes that SAFE (Sex Trafficking Awareness, Freedom and Empowerment) Coalition for Human Rights is hosting the 1st Global Sex Trafficking Conference bringing global stakeholders together to develop an intersectional approach to prevention, best practices in treatment and rehabilitation, ending demand, and awareness. SAFE 2014 is a global effort to bring together all the stakeholders to the table under one roof to find solutions for a global crime against humanity. Labor trafficking and other forms of human trafficking will also be addressed. The Conference is scheduled to take place October 29-31, 2014 at the Hilton in Oak Lawn, Illinois, and is intended to be an annual forum. Visit www.safechr.com for more details or like the organization’s Facebook page: http://facebook.com/safecoalitionforhumanrights. Their goals include: 1. To educate and raise awareness of human trafficking in all of its forms and specifically sex trafficking. 2. To bring together the stakeholders from all fields to come together under one roof and find realistic solutions to common obstacles to ending demand. 3. Develop white papers that can then be implemented and ensure accountability. This conference is a beginning and we hope to include everyone in the community as sex trafficking is a global crime against communities and children and women of all religions and all backgrounds. 4. We plan on quarterly global meetings via video-conferencing. 5. In January 2015 or the Spring of 2015, we plan to build the famous GiftBox in the city of Chicago and inaugurate it there. Please register at: https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1596419 And if you would like to support this cause, please do so at: http://safechr.com/benefits.html 6
2) Disrupting the Boundaries of Social Impact Are you interested in the intersection between social impact and business? Consider attending Kellogg's 15th Annual ISC Conference themed "Disrupting the Boundaries of Social Impact" and featuring Malaria No More's CEO as their keynote speaker. The conference will explore the evolution of traditional mission-driven organizations, as well as the innovative strategies private sector players are pursuing to measurably improve global communities while improving bottom lines and corporate cultures. Further details can be found at: http://kelloggisc.weebly.com/ Wednesday, October 29 from 1pm-6pm in Evanston, Illinois 3) Ebola virus in Sierra Leone Headlines of the Ebola virus devastating West Africa’s already depleted healthcare system are still on the rise. What can you do in Chicago, an ocean away? Please join our new friend, Olamide Jarrett, MD MPH, Assistant Professor, Section of Infectious Diseases, from UIC Department of Medicine and colleagues, the evening of Thursday October 9th for an event to raise funds and awareness to combat the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers aiding in the worst Ebola outbreak in history are now contracting the virus at an alarming rate. The epidemic continues to accelerate. Lack of proper protective and sterilization equipment is a major factor contributing to the rise in deaths, resulting in healthcare workers fearing for their lives. The devastating impact Ebola is having on healthcare workers and the healthcare infrastructure of Sierra Leone is personally troubling to me as a Sierra Leonean-American and physician. This is why the University of Illinois at Chicago and I are partnering with Project C.U.R.E. to bring much needed protective equipment and medical supplies to the country. Project C.U.R.E. is the world’s largest distributor of donated medical equipment and supplies. www.projectcure.org The goal of this event is to raise the necessary funds to deliver one 40ft. container of WHO-approved personal protective equipment to Sierra Leone. Due to Project C.U.R.E.’s leveraging power as a 7
nonprofit organization, every dollar donated results in the delivery of $20 of medical equipment and supplies! If you cannot attend, please consider donating: http://goo.gl/CHLMbP . Thank you very much for your consideration to help my homeland of Sierra Leone in its time of need. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Thanks! I hope you have found this issue to be informative and helpful in your work. Please send me any information you’d like posted in upcoming issues. This Newsletter and mailing are a manual process, so if you would no longer like to receive this Newsletter, just send me an email. And any recommendations to improve this communique would be most appreciated! Cheers, and thank you for your work, Chris http://DrChrisStout.com Founding Director, http://CenterForGlobalInitiatives.org LinkedIn Influencer: http://www.linkedin.com/influencer/3055695 American Psychological Association International Humanitarian Award Winner, http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec07/rockstar.html 8
