Discussion this week was another mind-blowing experience for me. I guess I am still stuck in the rural areas of the world where there is no electricity to support many of the technological advances discussed. I'm struggling with the idea of investing in expensive equipment, when we as a world cannot take care of the basic necessities of the world.
Cell phones have a great role even in modern societies. However, those that invest in cell phone towers generally do not think about rigging them up in rural areas. I have a cousin who's training as a nurse and after their school training, they have to spend a few years on site. Most people get posted to rural areas; and she was no exception. It's no use trying to get in touch with her on either of her cell phones, but neither one works in that area. Which means that in order to use that technology to help people, the infrastructure must be developed. But how many governments will be willing to expend that kind of funds; and if they could do that, why wouldn't they have provided better facilities and basic necessities for their citizens.
Telemedicine will at some point become a highly useful technology. I can only imagine it being a luxury, however, even in a country like the United States. It involves some kind of coverage from insurance, or people with money. I can definitely not see it working in the world without the right resources. Telemedicine has a place in our world, but when it can in incorporated is a different story.
I am one of those people that believes in paying off all debt before investing in anything beyond my bare necessities. This of course is very protective here where credit is important, but in order to appreciate technology innovation and global health, i have to step outside that thinking. The world must develop regardless of those lagging.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Friday, March 2, 2007
Technology
In discussing technology and its role in global health, I'm torn between feeling the need to solve the problems in the most simple and tradiational way or introducing innovations that can potentially solve problems better and faster. In the 21st century as we know it, technology has become an everyday part of our lives. Children know how to work computers better than their parents (at least my brother does). Introducing or encouraging technology to meet the needs of those that need it the most. I'm still skeptical about it, but I guess I should think about it a bit further.
Maybe one of the reasons that there are still infectious diseases and people living without water, electricity, proper and adequate sanitation is because it is a heavy burden and very difficult for the world to take care of. By simplifying the way to reach out, maybe more people can be helped. So that if the people of Angola were provided with food that contains necessary vitamins, like Vitamin C, then less people have the chance of suffering from scurvy and therefore resources can be allocated to other needs. But since poverty has not been eradicated, then how would innovation and technology enhance distribution of resources. I guess distribution methods can be made simpler by technology. Hmm, I guess I have a lot more to learn about this.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Environment and Global Health
We live in a world of finite resources. I'm not sure at what time we started feeling that we can spend it all anyhow, and that it'll keep coming. The U.S. as a nation is wasteful as they come. The wastefulness is included in the culture; the children of the U.S. do not learn how to conserve resources. Most people do not think about where their next meal, or electricity or clean water would come from; and as long as they have money and can afford amenity, it means it has to be used.
But the truth is that our resources will not last forever. There needs to be a drive for conservation. Those that have, must leave some for their children. At the same time, there is a need to extend the resources to those that do not have it. The sad part is that there is a nice chunk of people around the world do not have the necessary resources for survival. For them, electricity has come very few times if at all, water does not come through a faucet, but rather from a river.
But the truth is that our resources will not last forever. There needs to be a drive for conservation. Those that have, must leave some for their children. At the same time, there is a need to extend the resources to those that do not have it. The sad part is that there is a nice chunk of people around the world do not have the necessary resources for survival. For them, electricity has come very few times if at all, water does not come through a faucet, but rather from a river.
It is sometimes very difficult for those of us on the outside to really comprehend how bad the problem is. When I was growing up, I was mostly in the city, where we received most of our water from natural water bodies; the water was of course purified before it made it to our homes. Electricity came from the dam on a lake and therefore, if we had seasons of drought, the electricity coorporation rationed the electricity, sometimes by street or by towns (e.g. street A would have electricity Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and street B would have electricity Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday). Water sort of worked the same way.
Now those in the rural areas had a different scene all together. In my 6th grade, I was in a cadet corp and we got to plant 1000 trees in a rural area outside the city. We camped in one of the schools (because mosquitoes and small rodents do not really allow for tents and proper camping). We brought a huge tank to provide us with water; and we had to get the water from a spring in the neighborhood. There was no electricity in the area, so we used flashlights and created a huge bonfire. The bathroom at the school was actually a latrine and none of us could stomach the smell or the sights enough to use it, which meant that nature became our natural bathroom. Our shower, well, we had to get water from a river and we took our 'shower' in a huge pineapple plantation that was sort of blocked off. It made quite an impression on us, the suburb children.
Now up the street from our campsite, was a huge mansion that belonged to a foreigner (we'll call her the white lady). She had water that came to her faucet and she also had a fully functioning toilet. We stored our seedlings in her huge compound before planting them.
I had this image in mind during our last class, because I have experienced the water and sanitation problem. It is imperative that when we get into the field, we examine all facets of the problem with the society with which we're working. For example, the little town where we camped could get access to clean water and even electricity as was demonstrated by one mansion having such access. But it takes initiative and the locals believing that they also deserve such amenities. We have a huge battle up ahead and it is important to be armed with all the right information.
A global look at mental health
(The picture is of a coffin; for those that couldn't afford the real thing in their lifetime; this is a very interesting practice in many countries including Ghana, but not necessarily the most popular choice of a coffin).
I initially started writing up an entry about mental health as discussed in class, but changed my mind when I received news about the death of someone very close to me. All of a sudden he became one of the statistics that we've discussed in class: global road traffic injury mortality. I started thinking about mental health as concerns death and the way it can affect the people of a community. When a person dies of chronic disease or some kind of preventable disease, we tend to blame the person; afterall it was preventable. When a child dies because of mother-child transmission of HIV, we experience different emotions; what did the child do to deserve such a death.
Global health has to include the examination of mental health in such a way that public health workers are empathetic to a wider variety of emotions. Why are the peole of South Africa depressed? How does one expect an intervention to work when the people mourn new deaths daily? How do we incorporate these distresses into our work as public health professionals. Can we overlook the fact that the parent resorted to excessive eating as a way to deal with the untimely death of a child? At the same time, we have to examine the resources available. How many of the countries stricken with the high death rates have the proper professionals that can help the people deal with the problems and emotions associated with the loss of a loved one.
I read sometime last year that in Ghana, there were less than 10 psychiatrists in the entire country. Most of the country's disturbed can be found in markets, dirty and mostly naked wandering around talking to themselves and sometimes wielding cutlasses. I had the opportunity to visit one of the places where mentally disturbed were kept. The majority were men and several proposed marriage to me. The place looked worse than a prison and it was heavily understaffed. The person we were visiting was sent to the place (called Asylum Down) because he burnt a Bible in front of someone's hair salon and he swore that he could hear God telling him to do it. When the police could not figure out what to do with him, they banished him to Asylum Down.
Mental health is unique because it cannot always been seen and it can't always be explained. However, it forms a basis on which other health stand. A person that is mentally unstable or disturbed has a better chance of being inflicted with other diseases, simply because their immune system is more compromised. That same person has a better chance of accidents, etc, simply because the person might be more distracted and less aware of their surroundings. It is imperative for us to appreciate a person's mental state in order to provide the best help to them.
Global health has to include the examination of mental health in such a way that public health workers are empathetic to a wider variety of emotions. Why are the peole of South Africa depressed? How does one expect an intervention to work when the people mourn new deaths daily? How do we incorporate these distresses into our work as public health professionals. Can we overlook the fact that the parent resorted to excessive eating as a way to deal with the untimely death of a child? At the same time, we have to examine the resources available. How many of the countries stricken with the high death rates have the proper professionals that can help the people deal with the problems and emotions associated with the loss of a loved one.
I read sometime last year that in Ghana, there were less than 10 psychiatrists in the entire country. Most of the country's disturbed can be found in markets, dirty and mostly naked wandering around talking to themselves and sometimes wielding cutlasses. I had the opportunity to visit one of the places where mentally disturbed were kept. The majority were men and several proposed marriage to me. The place looked worse than a prison and it was heavily understaffed. The person we were visiting was sent to the place (called Asylum Down) because he burnt a Bible in front of someone's hair salon and he swore that he could hear God telling him to do it. When the police could not figure out what to do with him, they banished him to Asylum Down.
Mental health is unique because it cannot always been seen and it can't always be explained. However, it forms a basis on which other health stand. A person that is mentally unstable or disturbed has a better chance of being inflicted with other diseases, simply because their immune system is more compromised. That same person has a better chance of accidents, etc, simply because the person might be more distracted and less aware of their surroundings. It is imperative for us to appreciate a person's mental state in order to provide the best help to them.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Slavery in Ghana
I found a video that shows some information about slavery in Ghana. I plan on commenting extensively about the report on Oprah about the child slavery in Ghana. In the meantime, check out this interesting video. It's quite an eye-opener and contained very new information to me.
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/diaspora/view.video.php?ID=3
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/diaspora/view.video.php?ID=3
Friday, February 9, 2007
Ghana on Oprah
Check out the full show:
http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200702/20070209/slide_20070209_284_101.jhtml
Ghanaians the world over are devasted, why? Because the woman they've always wanted to visit their country, did have a special on the country....but it was about child slavery. Now this is one of many many white elephants that exist in the land of Ghana and Ghanaians are upset that of all the things in the country to focus on, Ms Oprah chose to talk about the long hours these babies (ok kids) spend on boats (mind you, most of them can't swim) doing various jobs including scooping out water from the boats to prevent capsizing and sinking. According to the report, most of these children were "given" to the fishermen by their parents, because of various reasons. A lot of these parents have no idea under what kind of conditions their children live, but they understand that their children might have more than they can themselves provide.
Child slavery takes many forms. Before the days of colonization, child slavery was practiced when parents gave up their children to debtors. The white men from the ships were at first rather disgusted by the practice by these black people. But somehow they realized that the disgusting part was the children, but trading the black people was quite alright. Then started the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Since the abolishing of the "official" slave trade, child slavery has continued to thrive. Folks realized that children make great sex slaves; they don't talk much (well not to authorities) and they do pretty much anything with the right pressure and fear. So that battle continues; some children are sold to be sex slaves, others are sold to work in boats or to sell pure water in the early mornings (of course they're not allowed to have any water themselves).
So what amends can be made about the situation. It's important to understand that a lot of poor families see children as assets. The children can work for them and at least bring some money home. In order to mend the situation, the families have to be provided with alternatives and educated about the importance of education for their chidren. Now, Oprah's crew worked with an organization in Ghana and helped take some of the child slaves back to their parents along with money and a chance for education.
Public health workers will be confronted by such situations. I can't provide a suggestion about how we deal with this. I simply understand that when I go home, I won't be one of those educated women that bring girls from the village to be their housemaid, with barely any pay and certainly no freedom.
http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200702/20070209/slide_20070209_284_101.jhtml
Ghanaians the world over are devasted, why? Because the woman they've always wanted to visit their country, did have a special on the country....but it was about child slavery. Now this is one of many many white elephants that exist in the land of Ghana and Ghanaians are upset that of all the things in the country to focus on, Ms Oprah chose to talk about the long hours these babies (ok kids) spend on boats (mind you, most of them can't swim) doing various jobs including scooping out water from the boats to prevent capsizing and sinking. According to the report, most of these children were "given" to the fishermen by their parents, because of various reasons. A lot of these parents have no idea under what kind of conditions their children live, but they understand that their children might have more than they can themselves provide.
Child slavery takes many forms. Before the days of colonization, child slavery was practiced when parents gave up their children to debtors. The white men from the ships were at first rather disgusted by the practice by these black people. But somehow they realized that the disgusting part was the children, but trading the black people was quite alright. Then started the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Since the abolishing of the "official" slave trade, child slavery has continued to thrive. Folks realized that children make great sex slaves; they don't talk much (well not to authorities) and they do pretty much anything with the right pressure and fear. So that battle continues; some children are sold to be sex slaves, others are sold to work in boats or to sell pure water in the early mornings (of course they're not allowed to have any water themselves).
So what amends can be made about the situation. It's important to understand that a lot of poor families see children as assets. The children can work for them and at least bring some money home. In order to mend the situation, the families have to be provided with alternatives and educated about the importance of education for their chidren. Now, Oprah's crew worked with an organization in Ghana and helped take some of the child slaves back to their parents along with money and a chance for education.
Public health workers will be confronted by such situations. I can't provide a suggestion about how we deal with this. I simply understand that when I go home, I won't be one of those educated women that bring girls from the village to be their housemaid, with barely any pay and certainly no freedom.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
