The Show Me Campaign

I went to see John Legend the other day (great concert!) where he profiled a campaign he is involved with in Africa whose mission it is to fight economic and spiritual poverty through fostering sustainable development. This is from his site:

Normally I travel to locations around the world to perform, but I came to Ghana to learn after being inspired by the book The End of Poverty by Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs. What I loved about the book is that is appealed to both my practical and compassionate sides. It also convinced me that extreme poverty could be eradicated in our lifetime by a surprisingly realistic amount of money.

He goes onto say that:

Hundreds of thousands of kids in Africa die from Malaria, which is preventable with a $10 bed net and curable with a $2 medicine dosage. That same $10 can fertilize an entire farm and dramatically increase its crop yield for a year.

So not only does John Legend have a soulful voice. He has a soul.

I have to mention that I am also reading Jeffrey Sachs' book The End of Poverty and would really recommend it to anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of strategies for economic development around the world. It's not only a goal that we can reach, but it's also something that can be sustained.

Sicko

Here is an excerpt from an article about Michael Moore's new film about the US healthcare system. It sounds like Moore's film discusses the issues of inadquate healthcare coverage moreso than a lack of health coverage. However, i tend to think the root of the problem is the same and I look forward to this film spurring dialogue and impacting society in the same way Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine shed light on Iraq and Gun Control.

"Sicko" purposefully does not focus on the 50 million or so Americans who don't have health insurance, as scandalous as that is, but on the horror stories of middle-class working folks who believed they were adequately covered. There are so many of these they begin to blur into each other: the woman in Los Angeles whose baby was denied treatment at an emergency room outside her HMO network, and died as it was being transferred hours later; the woman in Kansas City whose husband was repeatedly denied various drugs his physician prescribed for kidney cancer, and who in the last stage of life was denied a bone-marrow transplant that could have saved his life; the woman who was told her brain tumor was not a life-threatening illness, and died; the woman who was told her cancer must have been a preexisting condition, and died.

Hypertension: What Oprah doesn't know

A few weeks ago, Oprah's show was devoted to answering health questions. Dr. Oz asked her if she knew why African Americans have such high rates of hypertension, and Oprah retorted that indeed she did and that it was because "African Americans who survived [the slave trade's Middle Passage] were those who could hold more salt in their body." To which Dr. Oz rejoiced: "That's perfect!"

This conversation caused quite a stir and I've been following the discussion of this on a listserv that i belong to. Finally, an article about it came out in the LA times. It's an interesting discussion because not only does it shed some light on the prevalence of hypertension in a minority group - but it emphasizes the need to communicate health information that is accurate. Oprah has such an impact on her audience that it means it's even more important that she provides them with concrete information about their health and well-being.

Support the Global Health Council on Mother's Day

For some children and mothers, this Mother's Day isn't a time to celebrate.

One woman dies every minute, every day from maternal causes. 99% of which occur in low-income countries.

Help develop healthy women in a healthy world by donating $10 or more to the Global Health Council in honor of your mother. In return, the Global Health Council will send her a personalized Mother's Day card.

Your gift will help the Global Health Council ensure a Global Happy Mother's Day.

Any gift you give will make a difference.

Epidemiology Definitions

An epidemic is a rate of disease that reaches unexpectedly high levels, affecting a large number of people in a relatively short time. Epidemic is a relative concept: a small absolutely number of cases of a disease is considered an epidemic if the disease incidence is usually very low. In contrast, a disease (such as malaria) is considered endemic if it is continuously present in a population but at low or moderate levels, while a pandemic describes epidemics of world-wide proportions, such as influenxa in 1918 or HIV/AIDS today.

.:Happy Vaisakhi:.

Vaisakhi is one of the most colorful events in the Sikh calendar. It's a time when Punjabi farmers harvest their crops and most importantly, the day on which the city of Anandpur in Punjab saw the creation of the 'Khalsa' - The Pure Ones.

In 1699 on Vaisakhi (also written Baisakhi) Day, hundreds of thousands of people gathered around the divine temporal seat at Anandpur Sahib. Guru Gobind Singh Ji addressed the congregants with a most stirring oration on his divine mission of restoring their faith and preserving the Sikh religion. He said that every great deed was preceded by equally great sacrifice.

Vaisakhi is the day on which the Sikh Nation - the Khalsa was born and Sikhs were given a clear identity and a code of conduct to live by. The event was led by the last living Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who baptised the first Sikhs using sweet nectar called Amrit. Around the world at Vaisakhi time, Sikhs reflect on the values taught to them by their Gurus and celebrate the birth of the Khalsa.

The message of Vaisakhi has particular relevance today in a multi-cultural and multi-faith society. Vaisakhi promotes friendship and mutual respect as the way forward. This is consistent with the command of Guru Gobind Singh Ji: Consider the whole of humanity as one, we are all children of the One God.




More:
Turban Day - Nirali Magazine
Turban Day - Sepia Mutiny
Wikipedia
Savory Sikh

Spotlight

I came across some great sites this past week and have decided to summarize them in this blog.

Seva Café is an experiment in the joys of giving and of selfless service. Run mostly by volunteers, our wholesome meals are cooked with love and served with love, offered to you as a genuine gift. To complete the full circle of giving and to sustain this experiment, we leave it to you to pay from your heart. All profits are used to support social service projects.

Project Naad is a charitable organisation committed to producing high quality freely distributable content. Check out their leaflets and presentations.

Search Kindly Search Kindly is a non-profit organization dedicated to the idea of micro-volunteerism. 100% of the advertising revenue generated from this website is donated to charitable organizations.

Sakhi for South Asian Women is a community-based organization in the New York metropolitan area committed to ending violence against women of South Asian origin.

Harvard World Health News is an online news digest from the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health. The site covers critical public health issues from around the world. It is designed to be a resource for an international audience of policy makers and journalists as well as public health researchers, practitioners, and advocates.

Provoked: Domestic Abuse

Provoked , a movie which discusses the topic of domestic abuse, is based upon the life of Kiranjit Ahluwalia. Kiranjit had an arranged marriage which turned into a marriage defined by violence and humiliation. After suffering his brutality for 10 years, she set fire to her husband one night and he died. She was charged with murder and imprisoned for life.

The trial judge declared that the violence she had suffered was "not serious" and the prosecution claimed that she had merely been "knocked about'. Because of her shame about the incidents of sexual abuse, Kiranjit could not face her family hearing about them at the trial and gave no evidence in her defence. Her plea of manslaughter due to provocation was overturned and the jury found her guilty of murder.

A key reason for the failure of Kiranjit's plea of provocation was the bias towards male behaviour in such cases. the time that had elapsed between Deepak's last attack on her and her retaliation (a few hours) was deemed to be a "cooling down" period and not a "boiling over" period as her defence suggested. Men tend to react instantaneously when provoked, whereas women cannot do so because of men's greater physical strength and size.

An appeal was granted in 1992 on the grounds that expert evidence and psychiatric reports had not been presented at the original trial. A re-trial was ordered and on September 25, 1992 Kiranjit was found guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility and sentenced to three years and four months (the time she had already served). Kiranjit was released immediately.

Provoked will be released in April 2007 in the UK, and at a later date in the US.

An excerpt from Sikhism, by Eleanor Nesbitt

I just read this "short introduction" on Sikhism and found it to be very informative and well written. Here is an excerpt from the book, about Bhagat Puran Singh.

"Bhagat Puran Singh (1904-92) dedicated his life to caring for the destitute and disabled and the Pingalwara (home for the 'handicapped'), a complex situated near Amritsar's bus terminus, carries on his mission of compassionate seva, under its Patron President, Dr Indarjit Kaur. The All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society, employing over 400 people, resulted from Bhagat Puran Singh's decades of tirless effort for the abandoned, terminally ill, and mentally challenged. This began with his devotion to the helpless Piara Singh, whom he found as abandoned, dumb four-year-old, physicially deformed and mentally impaired. Puran Singh washed and tended him, gave him the name 'Piara', meaning beloved, and for years carried him on his back as a 'garland round my neck'." - page 83

Pingalwara

Wikipedia

Bhagat Puran Singh

UK Sikh Health clinic could provide blueprint

A PIONEERING health support scheme for Leamington's Sikh community is set to be rolled out across the country if it proves successful.

The Apnee Sehat clinic, located at the Sikh Community Centre in Queensway, officially opened for business on Friday (February 16). It has been set up by consultant diabetologist Dr Shirine Boardman - with the help of a £10,000 grant from South Warwickshire Primary Care Trust - and aims to provide the local Asian community with specialist help and advice in managing diabetes-related problems in an environment they feel comfortable with.

The centre is part of a pilot project due to run for one year, during which time researchers from the University of Warwick's Medical School will analyse its effectiveness - with a view to creating permanent clinics across the country in the near future. To date the successful project has been nominated for five national awards by various health service organisations. Project co-ordinator Dr Shirine Boardman said she hoped the unique clinic would dramatically reduce the disproportionately high levels of diabetes, strokes and heart attacks in the south Asian population. "It is very exciting to be able to run a pilot research clinic for diabetes which is tailored to the needs of a community which is disadvantaged by its predisposition to premature diabetes, heart disease, strokes and kidney failure," she said. "Members of the Asian community are six times more likely to get diabetes due to their genetics - but this centre will help promote self-care and will help to empower and keep patients motivated.

Hundreds of local Asian people attended the official launch on Friday, along with councillors, mayors and members of South Warwickshire PCT, which has supported the project from the beginning. Warwick District councillor Balvinder Gill added: "Hospitals are frightening places for this community and signify serious illness. "The community is also shy and they often won’t visit the doctor until it’s too late, not to mention the language problems, which prevent them from expressing their symptoms. "Having this clinic means they will feel relaxed in their own environment."

Global Health Photo Contest

The Global Health Council's Photography Contest is dedicated to drawing attention to health issues that have a global impact and to celebrate this year's conference theme, Partnerships: Working Together for Global Health.

Each year, the Global Health Council holds a photography contest inviting both amateurs and professionals to submit selections of their work which clearly illustrate the theme of the Council’s core issues of women’s health, child health, infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS and emerging health threats.

The Global Health Council recognizes the ability of photography to convey great emotional depth and understanding of issues which are often difficult to discuss, and seeks to highlight the important contributions to understanding and action made by the winner of the award.

The winner's work will be prominently displayed at the conference and will appear in Global Health Council publications with attribution.

Shame by Jasvinder Sanghera

I've been reading a lot about this new book by English activist Jasvinder Sanghera and it is definitely blog worthy. You might ask how this book is related to health, but you will soon realize that health is integrally linked to the well-being of both our bodies and mind.

In her memoir, Jasvinder discusses the, what seems to be "controversial" issue of forced marriage. (Why it is controversial is unknown to me, when quite clearly we have reached a time in the progression of our culture to realize that the concept of forced marriage is not only unacceptable but also conflicts with the values upheld by the Sikh religion). It is a shame to read about the difficulties the author incurred while trying to stand up for what was the right thing, and it is a further shame that she lost the support of those individuals (namely her sisters) whom she felt inspired to fight for.

Her story is heart-breaking and tragic. I found this statement interesting, "By day I fought for the rights of Asian women," she writes, "and by night I craved acceptance from the very community I rejected." There is no clear consensus as to what to do because coming from a culture that is so integrally tied, women are deeply conflicted. Family and community should not be a weight - and often times, they are.

It usually comes down to a female who has to fight for a right that is so easily provided to her male counterpart. It is therefore usually females who have to suffer through the trials and tribulations of breaking the norm and bringing shame upon their family. Often times, it is these same women who are really striving to live by the values and morals set out by their religion.

Anyway, i am looking forward to reading the book - to be allowed to enter another's experience through their memoir is profound. But i hope this book spurs dialogue around forced marriage and the consequences it has on the well-being of our community. Everyone is affected by it - mothers, fathers, sons, daugheters, sisters, and brothers. Suicide rates and depressions rates have increased (the suicide rate among young South Asian females is three times the national average) and research has shown the long-term and damaging effects of that.

NEED Magazine

I came across this new magazine called NEED, which focuses on telling the stories (through words and pictures) of the experience of humanitarian aid. There are stories from all over the world and issues that include discussions on health, work, kids, future, and dialogue among other things.

As stated on its website, NEED is the first independent magazine dedicated solely to global and domestic humanitarian issues.

Check it out, it's definitely worthy.

World AIDS Day: December 1st

Today is World AIDS Day and this year's message is "STOP AIDS. KEEP THE PROMISE." The news is full of articles about HIV and AIDS in the spirit of World AIDS Day. Here are some of particular notice:

The International Herald Tribune reports on a collaboration between the Clinton Foundation and two Indian drug companies. The result? Anti-retrovirals designed for children will be provided for an average price of 16 cents a day, or $60 a year, which is about 45 percent lower than the lowest current price. The news report also states that the prices will be available to 62 developing countries and will lead to the treatment of an additional 100,000 people in 2007. Jon Liden, a spokesman for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, based in Geneva, said the deal announced Thursday would allow grants already made by the foundation to treat substantially more people in 2007. "It's a hugely positive step," he said, "because one of the really difficult areas in rolling out treatment has been to have a steady and huge supply of pediatric dosages and packaging."

The BBC had a very interesting piece on how HIV affects the global workforce. The article states that the virus has had a crippling effect on the workforce of many countries. Without this, it estimates that the cumulative loss to the global workforce from the virus could rise 45 million by 2010 and almost double again by 2020. The ILO said increased access to ARV treatments could significantly reduce the impact on the global workforce. "The prospect of averting between one-fifth and one-quarter of potential new losses to the labour force should serve as a powerful incentive to target the workplace as a major entry point to achieve universal access to ARVs," the report concluded.

AIDS in Punjab: II

Intravenous drug users (IDUs) inject themselves in a public park at Ludhiana. — Tribune photo Sayeed Ahmed

India’s most innovative city, known throughout the world for its ingenuity — is making news for all the wrong reasons. The number of suspected and confirmed HIV positive cases here has puts the city into a category that can be classified as the one facing an “HIV epidemic”. The first-ever survey conducted to ascertain the extent of HIV infection in the region puts the city high up in the list. The exact position will however be known after the results of the survey are tabulated later this month.

Investigations by The Tribune have revealed that free exchange of needles by drugs users and unabated prostitution in more than half a dozen localities has accelerated the spread of the disease. Apart from industrial workers, many migrant workers visiting these CSWs have tested positive.

The situation can be gauged from the fact that out of 48 blood samples taken from IDUs in Ludhiana, 16 have tested positive. As per NACO and UNAIDS guidelines, in random sampling if more than 5 per cent cases are reported in the high-risk category and over 1 per cent in general population the situation can be termed as an epidemic. According to unofficial results, Ludhiana is heading to be the first city in the state to achieve this dubious distinction.

Excerpted from http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061121/main6.htm

AIDS in Punjab

I came across a story on Sikhnet that really caught my attention. I had to read it over twice to make sure i was reading it correctly. The story was about a Punjabi man who was diagnosed with HIV about eight years ago. He had gone to a doctor who told him that his HIV test was positive. He was subsequently put on ARVs (anti-retroviral) drugs for his infection. The man had always questioned his results as, according to him, he had been faithful to his wife and could not understand how he got HIV.

The story then goes on to say how eight years after his "positive" test, he was retested and the results were "negative." Initially i thought that the virus was somehow cleared from his system but i then went onto read that the initial test was most likely incorrect, and he did not in fact have HIV. It was disheartening to read how the ARVs had already taken a toll on his body and his health was debiliated from years of taking the drugs.

It is understandable, then, to read the low numbers of HIV infections reported in Punjab. Something is amiss and tests are not being completed correctly. There needs to be attention focused on Counseling and Testing sites -- as this is where cases can be identified and treated. Numbers will always be in question until a public health infrastructure is built and abided by.

Domestic Abuse in South Asian Communities

After the recent reportings of two killings and an attempted murder, all involving Canadian women of South Asian descent, a sense of urgency has finally been sparked for people to start taking notice of a very important matter affecting our community. During a forum in Vancouver, 1500 people congregated to discuss the issue of domestic abuse in the South Asian community. Radio India, a Punjabi radio station based in Surrey, hosted the forum. CBC Canada reports, "Several women said isolation, shame and cultural barriers have hidden the problem of domestic violence in the community."

Babita Chumber, who spoke at the forum, said her six-year marriage started with high hopes but quickly became a nightmare. "My husband would spit on me, kick me, emotionally degrade me. I would go to work with bruises. Pieces of hair would be out of my head and I would cover it up because of the shame that is involved," she said.

Kavinder Lehal said she was beaten and threatened with knives and a gun during her 11-year marriage. Lehal said many South Asian women stay in abusive relationships out of fear they will bring shame to their families. "You're not shaming your husband or his family. He shames his family when he raises his hand on you. He shames his family when he beats you up," she said.

These are words that are most likely felt by a large number of South Asian women. However, the incidence of abuse amongst this community is only recently being seen as a problem as more and more women are speaking up and coming forward with their stories. Even though we have a long way to go in terms of educating our community, these conversations are a first step.

In a related issue, my advisor (Dr. Anita Raj) from Boston University School of Public Health recently published a paper related to domestic abuse among south asians. She finds that Indian-American women who are victims of marital violence are also being abused by their in-laws. Dr. Raj and her team examined the link between abuse by the women’s husband and abuse by her in-laws. Specifically, their research showed that in-laws themselves may be abusive to their daughter-in-law, emotionally and physically. Also, they often provide a supportive context for wife abuse by ignoring it when it occurs or even actively encouraging it. The study also revealed that mother in laws were aware of and tolerated the physical abuse perpetrated by their son. And in some cases the mother-in-law herself committed physical abuse.

Raj and her colleagues argue that to effectively address IPV (Intimate Partner Violence) with South Asian women, advocates and practitioners must simultaneously explore the problem of abuse from in-laws.

Details of the study, entitled 'Victims of Intimate Partner Violence More Likely to Report Abuse From In-Laws,' were published in the October 2006 issue of the journal 'Violence Against Women.'

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/03112006/3/canada-domestic-abuse-hidden-among-indo-canadians-forum.html
http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=110806080303

::SEVA:: The (RED) Manifesto and the Nobel Peace Prize

All Seva is worthy of acknowledgment. I'm highlighting two for today.

Today marks the launch of (RED) products which will be available at Gap, Motorola, Converse, and Apple stores. (RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world's most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT) RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT) RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

What's the meaning of the parentheses or brackets? Well, we call them "the embrace." Each company that becomes (RED) places its logo in this embrace and is then elevated to the power of red. Thus the name -- (PRODUCT)RED.

www.joinred.com

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Secondly, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammed Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker. Here is some more information about him from a profile on the BBC:

Muhammad Yunus is often referred to as "the world's banker to the poor". His life's work has been to prove that the poor are credit-worthy. His revolutionary Grameen (Village) banking system is estimated to have extended credit to more than seven million of the world's poor, most of them in Bangladesh, one of the poorest nations in the world. The vast majority of the beneficiaries are women.

His "micro-finance" initiative reaches out to people shunned by conventional banking systems - people so poor they have no collateral to guarantee a loan, should they be unable to repay it.

Mr Yunus' has tried to tranform the vicious circle of "low-income, low saving and low investment" into a virtuous circle of "low income, injection of credit, investment, more income, more savings, more investment, more income".

Iraqi Dead May Total 600,000, Study Says

Here is a look at a public health study that brings everything into perspective. As I understand it, the US, UK, and Iraqi governments all think these numbers are incorrect (they claim the actual numbers are much lower). Regardless of whether it's 50,000 or 600,000 -- it's still a lot of lives that have been lost.

(On another note, a sound study should be designed to assess the number of deaths resulting from the events of 1984 in Punjab).

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A team of American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that 600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003 American invasion, the highest estimate ever for the toll of the war here.

The figure breaks down to about 15,000 violent deaths a month, a number that is quadruple the one for July given by Iraqi government hospitals and the morgue in Baghdad and published last month in a United Nations report in Iraq. That month was the highest for Iraqi civilian deaths since the American invasion. But it is an estimate and not a precise count, and researchers acknowledged a margin of error that ranged from 426,369 to 793,663 deaths.

It is the second study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It uses samples of casualties from Iraqi households to extrapolate an overall figure of 601,027 Iraqis dead from violence between March 2003 and July 2006.

The findings of the previous study, published in The Lancet, a British medical journal, in 2004, had been criticized as high, in part because of its relatively narrow sampling of about 1,000 families, and because it carried a large margin of error.

The new study is more representative, its researchers said, and the sampling is broader: it surveyed 1,849 Iraqi families in 47 different neighborhoods across Iraq. The selection of geographical areas in 18 regions across Iraq was based on population size, not on the level of violence, they said.

The study uses a method similar to that employed in estimates of casualty figures in other conflict areas like Darfur and Congo. It sought to measure the number of deaths that occurred as a result of the war.

It argues that absolute numbers of dead, like morgue figures, could not give a full picture of the “burden of conflict on an entire population,” because they were often incomplete.

The mortality rate before the American invasion was about 5.5 people per 1,000 per year, the study found. That rate rose to 19.8 deaths per 1,000 people in the year ending in June.

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Additional links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11casualties.html?_r=1&ref=worldspecial&oref=slogin

http://web.mit.edu/CIS/pdf/Human_Cost_of_War.pdf

Punjab Development - Water Crisis

An important aspect of health is the concept of development. People are often surprised that Punjab is experiencing such a large burden of disease, considering it is known to be one of the most prosperous states in India. Recently, it was even named the best state by India Today. This is all surprising to me, especially since evidence suggests that unemployment rates are at its highest, suicide rates are increasing, mental health and substance abuse issues are still prevalent. There has recently been much attention given to the water crisis occuring in Punjab that is leading to the a decrease in the development of the area. At the Spinning Wheel Film Festival, a short film by Navdeep Singh Kandola was screened, "Eco Punjab - Five Rivers Run Dry" which discussed the topic. Punjab relies heavily on agriculture and without an adequate water supply, the whole economic and development of the state is in question. When the development of a community is compromised so is their health. It has been shown through public health efforts that without a clean water supply, illness is inevitable.

According to the World Watch report, the mythic ‘Land of Five Rivers’ will be a desert in 20 years.

Here are some points made in a recent article from SikhSangat news:

The situation is more pitiful in southern districts of state in Malwa region, but situation is fast becoming all most same in entire Punjab. There are news of public demonstrations, road-blocks, dharnas and civil unrest on the issue of water. Students boycotting the classes and even an engineering collage near Malout have forced to declare vacations for three days as there is no water supply to the institute in April 2006. Students at ITI Moga went on strike to protest against non-availability of drinking water.

Water crisis is so pitiable that village Buladewala with population of 6000 is getting water from 2 hand pumps only. Situation is so grim that in urban and sub-urban areas people are forced to install expensive submersible pumps to fetch water. More is the depth more it costs on drilling and then it needs further higher capacity motor to fetch water and more power bill; it is unending process now in most parts of the Punjab.

Even villagers' drinking water from sub-human system has no other option left "It is better to drink unfit water then die of thirst- says Barjinder Singh a farmer from village Malsingh wala.

It is irony that water is selling in that very land which has abundance water resources once and it is more tragic that this commercialization of water is done not by any company it is being commercialized by villagers themselves. This is erosion of value-system related to water. It is new trend that now farmers in Punjab are committing suicide as their tube wells are going dry. As water level is going down drastically day by day the farmers are forced to spend money to get water from new depth. In some of areas this is very common phenomenon. This also adds more debt burden on Punjabi farmers.