The Global Pulse Journal Blog

Home to over 400 million people, the Ganges river winds through India’s history, culture and countryside. Unfortunately, rapid industrialization and urbanization has left an unholy mark on the Ganges as dangerous amounts of untreated industrial pollution and human excrement enter the river every day.  These conditions are all too common in rivers worldwide  and create an environment ripe for diseases ranging from schistosomiasis to Cryptosporidium.

But long time advocacy is finally paying off as the WSJ reports that World Bank and the Indian government are set to spend $4 billion to “to ensure that by 2020 no untreated municipal sewage or industrial runoff enters the 1,560-mile river.”.  The methods proposed also have the benefit of being less carbon and electricity intensive than traditional wastewater treatment plants – key aspects for a country with chronic brownouts in a warming world.  In order to reach their goal, the government and partners will need to engage the most neglected slums which, if done right,  has the potential to create environmental justice at the same time as cleaning the river.

Of course, governments have a tendency of announcing lofty environmental goals which are then forgotten in the next election cycle. The Ganges also had a previous cleanup effort that failed to reach its goals, partly because of lacking public participation. Hopefully things will be different this time, but GP would love to hear from anyone with on the ground insight.

Note:  The GP editorial staff’s thoughts and hearts go out in solidarity to the residents of Port-au-Prince and their families, as well as our colleagues in Haiti.  We will be updating this post as more information becomes available.

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Earthquake Crisis in Haiti

Original post by Wilnise Jasmin [01.14.2010 @ 6:53 AM EST]

As you may have already heard, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck about 10 miles southwest of Port-au- Prince, Haiti at about 5 pm Tuesday night. The quake ravaged the infrastructure of Haiti’s fragile government and destroyed some of its most important cultural symbols.

“Parliament has collapsed,” Mr. Préval told The Miami Herald. “The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed. There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them.” He added: “All of the hospitals are packed with people. It is a catastrophe.”

President Obama promised that Haiti would have the “unwavering support” of the United States.

Haitian authorities and humanitarian aid organizations are struggling to respond amid devastation. Read the rest of this entry →

This is a guest post by Vanessa Coleman, coordinator of the International Women’s Health Leadership Institute and the International Women’s Health Working Group.

This New Year as you set down and make resolutions, we at AMSA urge you to make another one. Ghandi once said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Imagine how much of a difference we could make in our practices, medical schools and in our communities if each of us 30,000 AMSA members made this resolution? Apply for AMSA’s inaugural International Women’s Leadership Institute and BE THE CHANGE.

Read on for details. Read the rest of this entry →

Between World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) and International Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), PHR is gathering 10,000 signatures asking the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 2010.

Conceived as a “Bill of Rights for Women,” CEDAW sets a common international definition for gender-based discrimination, and establishes an agenda for ending it. States ratifying CEDAW are required to institutionalize gender equality through domestic legislation, repeal and replace all discriminatory provisions in their laws, and establish public institutions of recourse for women who require protection against discrimination.

Discrimination is bad. Women should have equal rights. Surely this is something we can agree on? Not so fast. Read further for the controversial stuff. Read the rest of this entry →

Learn more about biologics at www.affordablemedsnow.org

what is the biogenerics bill all about?

Are you interested in Global Health or International Medicine?  The AMA’s student ethics journal, Virtual Mentor recently published a worthwhile article called “Beyond Medical Tourism: Authentic Engagement in Global Health” which provides good advice on how to approach Global Health from a medical student perspective.  This short article is a good read for anyone considering going abroad for a ‘medical mission’ or other international health project.

Good morning on this May 1st, 2009, and good bye debt! Does the burden of debt loom over your head and weigh you down more than your book-laden backpack? Do you wish that the price of going to school didn’t cost you your dreams of being a family doc? Do you want to contribute your skills as a physician and serve your local and global communities, but just can’t afford to take the time off???? Make your voice heard, and email your congressman. Let them know we’re drowning in debt, and will not take it anymore.  Below is an action alert from Mary-Carol at AMSA.

Dear AMSA,

This last March, a few of our Representatives and Senators stood up to decrease the educational debt burden for future physicians by introducing a bill that would reinstate a pathway to defer loan repayment until after residency for the majority of medical residents.

This May, Congress is writing a huge piece of legislation that will reform our health care system – and impact our chosen career field for decades to come.

Your Senators and Representative need to hear from you that the cost of medical education must be addressed in this legislation.

Click here to send an email to your Congressperson.

Sound pretty good to be able to defer your loans during residency if you’re having trouble paying them? Well, don’t get used to it – as your school’s financial offices should have told you, last summer, the passage of the College Cost Reduction Act terminated this pathway for loan deferment.

As AMSA members, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to make medicine a feasible field for students from all walks of life – we need to remove the burden of intimidating student debt from the equation. Congress needs to hear from you that reinstating the economic hardship deferral pathway is a good thing, and that including comprehensive measures to decrease the cost of medical education in this month’s health reform legislation will be even better.

Thanks – let’s see this through!

– Mary Carol

Click here to send an email to your Congressperson.

Do your part to include medical school debt in the upcoming health care reform.