GHLC at JHU: Dr. Richard Cash

Dr. Richard Cash, MD, MPH, Senior Lecturer on Global Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Global Health and Population, is one of the primary developers of Oral Rehydration Therapy

Science to the People: The Development and Dissemination of ORT to the Community

- 50 years ago, dehydration used to be a leading cause of death for young children (30%, 4 million)

- Dehydration was caused by diseases like cholera, which caused diarrhea --> loss of fluids

- People couldn't get IV's in developing countries --> lots of deaths

- Solution had to be:

    Cheap

    Easy to use

    Effective

    Acceptable

- A mix of isotonic salt and glucose maintained hydration

- A mix called Oral Rehydration Therapy

    It consisted of a mix of water and various salts, sugars, and minerals

-The problem was the administration of ORT

    There weren't enough doctors or nurses to do it, so mothers had to learn it

    No one had a standard measuring cup or tool in rural Bangladesh

- Instructors went around to villages measuring out sizes for the mothers and teaching them how much solution to mix

- Instructors were paid based on how much the people learned

- It worked

- It is key to make change at the local level

When Breath Becomes Air

By Paul Kalanithi

My thoughts: Even though as a teen, I feel like I have a lot of time left, I don't know when I might die, or what might happen, and it is very important to be able to accept whatever happens. I also saw how difficult the life of a surgeon can be, with all the stresses of life and death on the line.

    In the last two years of his life, Dr. Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon, dedicated his life to documenting what he had learned about death and how we cope with it.

    He had been working to become a neurosurgeon for years and was in the culmination of his residency when the back pains first began. When he went in to get a scan, it was confirmed. He had Stage IV cancer, and one of the most deadly types, too.

    When he is diagnosed, everything he ever worked for is suddenly rearranged. Should he have a child? What about a job? And how long of a life should I plan for? Ultimately, the first round of drugs that he tries holds the cancer cells back, allowing him to opt for a child - but only after ensuring that his wife, Lucy, is okay with the probable burden of becoming a single mother. He even gets a lucrative job offer, which he turns down due to its distance from his oncologist and family.

    Unfortunately, while his oncologist is away, he suffers a relapse when a resident fails to give him the drugs that he needs, and neither of the other two solutions works for long, bringing him to the brink of death just months after his daughter is born. He grapples with the question that he has been considering since his diagnosis one last time: What kind of life is worth living? His answer, that life should have a purpose, led him to try therapy methods that would enable him to work as much as possible, and finally took him to his death, when he decided to end life support because a life like that would not be useful.

    His story of striving, trying to live, then coming to terms with death, is eloquently told, and just relatable enough that a reader can understand. "It's just tragic enough and just imaginable enough".

"The problem wasn’t really a scientific one. The fact of death is unsettling. Yet there is no other way to live."

GHLC at JHU: Dr. Roopa Dhatt

Dr. Roopa Dhatt is the Executive Director and co-founder of Women in Global Health, an organization that works to give women more opportunities in global health.

Women in Global Health

Objectives:

- Summarize challenges and barriers

- Provide examples of transformative leadership

- Highlight approaches to becoming more equitable

WGH brings a power and privilege lens

- Reach out to those usually put last

- Drive change at all levels

Gender Transformative approach

5 ways of viewing gender:

- Power & Privilege

- Intersectionality

- Inclusive

- Leadership

- Individuals & Organizations

It will take an estimated 135.6 years to achieve gender equality

Much of the global health workforce is women, but the sector is led by men.

Only 23% of the delegations to the 73rd World Health Assembly were led by women.

Very few receive awards.

Making Change:

Global agencies set standards --> individual countries create and are accountable for change --> organizations like WGH advocate on a local and global level.

CNN 10 5/10/2021 ~ 5/14/2021

Go to cnn.com/cnn10 for the latest video

Monday, May 10, 2021

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

The price of fuel this time of year is higher than last year since people weren't traveling as much then. And it could get higher. The Colonial Pipeline company recently found out that it had been the target of a cyber attack. The virus in its system was a type of ransomware, which encrypts important data until a user pays a ransom, which can go into the hundreds of millions. The US government says the attack was carried out by a Russian group, and Colonial can choose whether or not it will pay the ransom, as it is a private company. Colonial has said that it shut down its systems quickly enough to prevent damage to its physical sites, and will have everything up and running again in the coming days. There is currently no impact on the gas supply, but there could be one if Colonial stays closed for a long time. Schools across the country are in a variety of reopening conditions. Some are almost 100% in person, while others are still mostly virtual. Many parents are anxious for their kids to go back to school, as students' wellness, as well as learning, are impacted by distanced learning. The winner of this year's Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the three prestigious horse races that constitute the Triple Crown, is Medina Spirit. But the horse's trainer has been accused of using an anti-inflammatory drug to assist the win, which may invalidate the Derby results and prevent the horse from racing at the remaining tournaments. More testing is still being conducted.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

The COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech is now approved for emergency use in teens ages 12-15. The FDA gave emergency authorization after clinical trials showed that the vaccine was just as effective in teens as adults, with similar side effects like some pain and mild illness. Some 40% of the US population has received at least one dose of a vaccine, and vaccinating children will go a long way. In Japan, which still plans to hold the summer games as planned, vaccine hesitancy has led to just 1% of the population being vaccinated. In addition, the country is dealing with yet another outbreak, leading to an extension of its state of emergency. The IOC has determined that the games must go on, likely because it makes almost all of its revenue from the Olympics. China has a population problem. Although it has the largest one in the world, its growth rate is slowing. Chinese laws meant to deter the population from growing too fast have been too effective, and urban families have shied away from children in recent years. This poses a problem for China because it means that it will lack workers for the next generation of the labor form, stagnating its economic growth.

Thursday, May 13, 2021

The West Bank is an important religious site for Muslims and Jews, which has sparked new violence in an area known as Gaza. Both the Palestinians and Israelis have fired rockets and launched airstrikes against each other in the region killing dozens, and both say they will stop once the other side does so. International leaders are calling for both parties to cease the violence immediately. The cyberattack on the Colonial pipeline last week is causing gas shortages in several states. The company serves almost half of the East Coast, and it won't reopen for at least another few days. Miniwiz is a Taiwanese company trying to create buildings and products with recycled materials. It recently launched a new mobile recycling truck and fully mobile hospital wards with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Friday, May 14, 2021

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza has a long history. The two sides have been locked in battle ever since Israel took over the West Bank territory in the 1960s under the premise that it was a security hole. The area is significant because it contains the holy city of Jerusalem and the burial sites of important religious figures. There have been several skirmishes and attempts at peace in the past, all of which have failed. The most recent conflict reportedly started with Palestinian missiles being shot into Israeli settlements, which they responded to with airstrikes, resulting in dozens of casualties. Colonial Pipeline is reportedly back up and running, but there are conflicting reports about whether or not the hackers were paid to return the data that they locked. Colonial says it was able to recover the most important data without paying the ransom, while another report says that it paid $5 million.