Hi folks. I've had a bunch of conversations with people in the past couple years about organizing a space (ehem, well I'm in Portland, but you are other places...) that could host a growing movement for justice in health and healthcare, and that would hopefully become a part of a network of such resources that would build dual power in liberatory struggle of our communities. I am writing an outline of things I think would be essential to such a space, to bounce these ideas off my friends and comrades to get feedback and see if anyone else is interested at this point.
Things I'd love to see
SPACE FOR ORGANIZING:
- Tools and projects to assess the needs and wants of our communities when it comes to health and healthcare. Community forums specifically focused on building empowerment around these issues.
- Tying concepts and mechanisms of white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism to health and healthcare disparities
- building alliance with and among environmental justice, anti-environmental racism, Immigrant health and labor, anti-prison, anti police violence, women's health, lgbtq health, and i'm sure many more groups and movements
-Building movements for social justice inside our professional organizations /networks /workplaces /unions as practitioners, learning to organize with our clients towards harm reduction inside the current systems, and to create systems that actually work for people and practitioners.
- Building support for consumers of healthcare, to move us from a passive objectified role to one that can take action for our well-being.
SPACE FOR COMMUNITY RESOURCES:
- Practitioners providing services in the context of a JUST economy. (Could this mean a different model of payment/ exchange?)
- Learning resources (library, internet, study groups, classes)
- Resource referral guide: this could include all kinds of resources, including healthcare ones!
We in Portland benefit from the fruits of the labor of many many people who organize and work in the non-profit and local government community health infrastructure, which provides important resources for many. The Coalition of Community Clinics and other such resources attempt to lessen the overwhelming harm and neglect inflicted on poor communities, people of color, queer people, trans people, many women, and other margianlized populations... but what we're missing is a place to empower ourselves around confronting the myriad of issues that manifest in our illness, injury, and lack of well-being.
This is what I'm interested in organizing. I would love to see a space that is welcoming and inclusive, that is built by and for the empowerment of our communities, around Health as not just the absence of disease in ourselves, but Health as the presence of justice and well-being in our communities.
Any thoughts?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Olympia Community Clinic Project
What do you all think about this project proposal? What models would you like to see implemented in healthcare? I am not involved with this, but did find some of the aspects of what they're talking about to be resonant with things I've been dreaming of...
http://nwcommonaction.org/?q=node/34
http://nwcommonaction.org/?q=node/34
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Something I wrote for school a while back...but I'm still thinking about a lot...
The Economic Crisis, Care Crisis, and Changing Dynamics of Gendered Work
Abstract:
Care work lies at the heart of all of society’s wealth. It is the work of nurturing, growing, teaching, healing, reassuring, bonding, and building healthy people and communities. Yet, traditionally unpaid or low-paid “women’s work”, care work is still devalued in our society. Despite many women gaining access to jobs traditionally held by men, this gendered inequality defines much of how we care for one another and are cared for. Changing dynamics in the economy are affecting the care economy in complex ways, which have ramifications on gender relations and work in the United States.
News of the current economic crisis in the United States is omnipresent in the media. Unemployment rates are rising, foreclosures on family dwellings are epidemic, and the poor and middle-class are quickly losing financial footing. According to “Get Sick, Get Out” (Robertson, 2008), 50 % of foreclosures are related to medical bills. Even as billions of dollars are being pumped into financial institutions to slow the financial decline, the crisis looms large in the lives of individuals and families, as a crisis of care.
Schools, public healthcare resources, daycares, food stamps and unemployment benefits are being defunded. While the United States cannot feasibly afford a decline in the health of its people, cuts to health resources continue. As unemployment grows, so does the population of uninsured people. With fewer people accessing formal healthcare resources, more are going without, turning to the people around them, or waiting until a crisis to go to the hospital (Rosen, 2007). Will the growing gap between the health needs of citizens and available resources be effectively absorbed by communities?
Conflict theory suggests that inequality of access to healthcare and health outcomes in our society reflect ingrained institutional power, and exclusion of marginalized groups from protections from harm and access to vital resources. The healthcare crisis in the United States has been growing for years, as an aging population drops out of the workforce and begins to use healthcare resources more intensively, as the current “nursing shortage” deepens, and as chronic health issues such as diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases arise earlier and more frequently in the population.
Interestingly, the structure of privilege among healthcare workers reflects the same dynamics of inequality. Despite rising rates of physicians who are women, the majority of physicians are men, while the majority of supportive, more “care-intensive” workers are women. Physicians in the United States hold a high-status, high-paid position, while the supportive care positions typically do not hold such status. Since the 1970s, the profession of nursing has made a concerted effort at “professionalizing” by emphasizing technology in nursing, minimizing gendered dress and roles and promoting male involvement in nursing. While higher wages and status have resulted for nurses as a whole, the more “care oriented” aspects of nursing have remained feminized, while more technological aspects of nursing are seen as more masculine and often carry higher status (Lindsay, 2008). Further down the status ladder in care work, nurses’ aids often bear the brunt of very difficult care work and hard labor with low wages and little status.
The topic of changes in the care economy interests me, because as a working class woman in the United States, these changing dynamics of gendered work impact me in direct ways. Because of my privileged status as an educated white woman, I have the economic mobility and the choice to participate in traditionally feminized work, or to engage in historically male-dominated fields. My choice to study nursing has placed me in one of the higher-status care positions in society. It has also exposed me to the variety of intersecting crises present in patients’ lives and in the healthcare system.
The underground economy of informal labor epitomizes the deep crisis in care in general within our society. Many of the most marginal people in our society provide care for children, the aged, ill people, and the disabled, with little pay and few resources for care for themselves or their own families. Undocumented workers, new immigrants, and others with limited work options are filling widening gaps in the care economies of many postindustrial nations, doing the vital work of providing for those who need the assistance of others to meet their basic needs (McGregor, 2007).
Everyone needs care at certain points of life. Because of the devaluation of care work, many of those who provide care are also the least likely to receive care and support. A parent may be forced to work as a low-wage care provider instead of caring for his or her own children. One spouse caring for the other at the end of life may later have no care available to them.
In several care facilities that I have worked in, female and male migrants from African countries and other poorer, "peripheral" and "semi peripheral" economic regions of the world do much of the hands-on care work. They are some of the lowest-paid care providers in care facilities. The devaluation of care work persists even as it sheds its exclusive gender bias. And in its devaluation, it reinforces ethnic and class barriers.
During the current economic crisis, historically male-dominated working-class jobs such as in building trades and production have been disappearing at the highest rate, leaving an increasing number of women as the primary wage earner in families. Because these historically male dominated jobs were seen as primary wage-earner jobs, they often came with health insurance and other supports, while fewer of the female-dominated jobs carry these benefits. Thus the impact on families and gender relations is complex: the symbolic importance of women being the primary wage earner is matched with greater vulnerability of many families to poverty and illness. The pressure on many women to both earn wages and care for dependents or community members is increased. And women are not being given more benefits or resources with which to fill these roles. In fact, it is documented that women still receive less resources in support of the care work that they do, than men receive when they do similar work (Bywaters, 1998).
Because of the loss of many formerly male-dominated jobs, it is likely that competition for the remaining jobs will increase and more men will seek work in female-dominated work. While women should seek work and pay parity with men, I think workers must avoid the conclusion that I’ve heard in some newscasts that women are starting to achieve some sense of equality in the job market. It is not a success when both men and women are underpaid for doing important work.
In settling for less, we are left with the dilemma of "who will care for the caregivers"? The question of how marginalized and exploited workers, and women in an increasingly unsupportive economy receive the care they need is a crucial one. The crisis is visible enough already to have sparked national debate about the structure and function of our healthcare system.
There are policy suggestions on how to mitigate the care crisis, which propose healthcare reform or restructuring. There are several different types of proposals including a proposal that requires all people to have insurance, and proposals for a single-payer, universal healthcare system. Out of the currently proposed healthcare options, I believe the latter would provide more universal, continuous, and affordable care. Because it would create a single unified health system, it would close gaps in health disparities that are due to unequal access among classes, races, and genders in our society. In addition, the single-payer system would take out the interest of insurance corporations from making profit-driven decisions in cases where people’s health hangs in the balance.
However, without a complete revolution in the prioritization of care in our society, I believe the care crisis will persist regardless of the structure of our healthcare system. It is only by addressing the underlying dynamics of the exploitation and marginalization of care work, and those who do it, that our society could transform from one of failing health to one built on life affirming values of inclusion, nurturance, and health. In separating the provision of healthcare from a corporate profit motive or utilitarian focus on merely maintaining the ability of a person to work, our society may start developing an understanding of healthcare as a human right, and health as a holistic pursuit of protection from risk and access to all necessary resources. With a comprehensive change in priorities, we should have no problem finding enough money in the budget to eliminate dire scarcity for all those seeking support.
In addition to the federal policy proposals, other healthcare initiatives attempt to fill the gaps in care in our communities. There are religious institutions that provide care as charity. There are also non-profit organizations and community empowerment groups that have broached this work.
The concept of community organizing around care is very interesting to me. The concept that everyone has the right to healthcare makes the provision of that care everyone’s responsibility. Care becomes central to the community, and care providers are no longer isolated. This motivates responsive, relevant care. There are some historical examples of groups such as the Black Panthers and the Young Lords who created or occupied clinics in order to create community-focused care for communities that were underserved and exploited by the sociopolitical system (Gonzalez, 1995). There are also contemporary examples, arising from acute disaster such as Common Ground clinic in New Orleans (a grassroots clinic organized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to fill the immediate health needs of residents); and those arising from the slow boil of the everyday care crisis (such as community clinics that are abounding and networking across the country). While these efforts to build socially just health and care support strcutures are still small, to me they provide a living example of how communities can make care a central ethic, and to provide care universally in ways that do not minimize the experiences and needs of communities and of carers.
References:
Bywaters, Paul; Harris, Allison “Supporting Carers: Is Practice Still Sexist?” Health and Social Care in the Community (1998) 6:6
Gonzalez, Juan “Lincoln Emancipation Hospital Takeover in ’70 Made Medical History” The Nation (1995) July 18 ed.
Lindsay, Sally “The Care-Tech Link: An Examination of Gender, Care, and Technical Work in Healthcare Labor” Gender, Work & Organization (2008) 15:4
McGregor, JoAnn “Joining the British Bottom Cleaners: Migrants in the UK Care Industry” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2007) 33:5
Robertson, Christopher; Egelhof, Richard & Hoke, Michael "Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes of Home Foreclosures" Health Matrix 18 (2008): 65-105.
Rosen, Ruth “ The Care Crisis” The Nation (2007): March 12th ed.
Abstract:
Care work lies at the heart of all of society’s wealth. It is the work of nurturing, growing, teaching, healing, reassuring, bonding, and building healthy people and communities. Yet, traditionally unpaid or low-paid “women’s work”, care work is still devalued in our society. Despite many women gaining access to jobs traditionally held by men, this gendered inequality defines much of how we care for one another and are cared for. Changing dynamics in the economy are affecting the care economy in complex ways, which have ramifications on gender relations and work in the United States.
News of the current economic crisis in the United States is omnipresent in the media. Unemployment rates are rising, foreclosures on family dwellings are epidemic, and the poor and middle-class are quickly losing financial footing. According to “Get Sick, Get Out” (Robertson, 2008), 50 % of foreclosures are related to medical bills. Even as billions of dollars are being pumped into financial institutions to slow the financial decline, the crisis looms large in the lives of individuals and families, as a crisis of care.
Schools, public healthcare resources, daycares, food stamps and unemployment benefits are being defunded. While the United States cannot feasibly afford a decline in the health of its people, cuts to health resources continue. As unemployment grows, so does the population of uninsured people. With fewer people accessing formal healthcare resources, more are going without, turning to the people around them, or waiting until a crisis to go to the hospital (Rosen, 2007). Will the growing gap between the health needs of citizens and available resources be effectively absorbed by communities?
Conflict theory suggests that inequality of access to healthcare and health outcomes in our society reflect ingrained institutional power, and exclusion of marginalized groups from protections from harm and access to vital resources. The healthcare crisis in the United States has been growing for years, as an aging population drops out of the workforce and begins to use healthcare resources more intensively, as the current “nursing shortage” deepens, and as chronic health issues such as diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases arise earlier and more frequently in the population.
Interestingly, the structure of privilege among healthcare workers reflects the same dynamics of inequality. Despite rising rates of physicians who are women, the majority of physicians are men, while the majority of supportive, more “care-intensive” workers are women. Physicians in the United States hold a high-status, high-paid position, while the supportive care positions typically do not hold such status. Since the 1970s, the profession of nursing has made a concerted effort at “professionalizing” by emphasizing technology in nursing, minimizing gendered dress and roles and promoting male involvement in nursing. While higher wages and status have resulted for nurses as a whole, the more “care oriented” aspects of nursing have remained feminized, while more technological aspects of nursing are seen as more masculine and often carry higher status (Lindsay, 2008). Further down the status ladder in care work, nurses’ aids often bear the brunt of very difficult care work and hard labor with low wages and little status.
The topic of changes in the care economy interests me, because as a working class woman in the United States, these changing dynamics of gendered work impact me in direct ways. Because of my privileged status as an educated white woman, I have the economic mobility and the choice to participate in traditionally feminized work, or to engage in historically male-dominated fields. My choice to study nursing has placed me in one of the higher-status care positions in society. It has also exposed me to the variety of intersecting crises present in patients’ lives and in the healthcare system.
The underground economy of informal labor epitomizes the deep crisis in care in general within our society. Many of the most marginal people in our society provide care for children, the aged, ill people, and the disabled, with little pay and few resources for care for themselves or their own families. Undocumented workers, new immigrants, and others with limited work options are filling widening gaps in the care economies of many postindustrial nations, doing the vital work of providing for those who need the assistance of others to meet their basic needs (McGregor, 2007).
Everyone needs care at certain points of life. Because of the devaluation of care work, many of those who provide care are also the least likely to receive care and support. A parent may be forced to work as a low-wage care provider instead of caring for his or her own children. One spouse caring for the other at the end of life may later have no care available to them.
In several care facilities that I have worked in, female and male migrants from African countries and other poorer, "peripheral" and "semi peripheral" economic regions of the world do much of the hands-on care work. They are some of the lowest-paid care providers in care facilities. The devaluation of care work persists even as it sheds its exclusive gender bias. And in its devaluation, it reinforces ethnic and class barriers.
During the current economic crisis, historically male-dominated working-class jobs such as in building trades and production have been disappearing at the highest rate, leaving an increasing number of women as the primary wage earner in families. Because these historically male dominated jobs were seen as primary wage-earner jobs, they often came with health insurance and other supports, while fewer of the female-dominated jobs carry these benefits. Thus the impact on families and gender relations is complex: the symbolic importance of women being the primary wage earner is matched with greater vulnerability of many families to poverty and illness. The pressure on many women to both earn wages and care for dependents or community members is increased. And women are not being given more benefits or resources with which to fill these roles. In fact, it is documented that women still receive less resources in support of the care work that they do, than men receive when they do similar work (Bywaters, 1998).
Because of the loss of many formerly male-dominated jobs, it is likely that competition for the remaining jobs will increase and more men will seek work in female-dominated work. While women should seek work and pay parity with men, I think workers must avoid the conclusion that I’ve heard in some newscasts that women are starting to achieve some sense of equality in the job market. It is not a success when both men and women are underpaid for doing important work.
In settling for less, we are left with the dilemma of "who will care for the caregivers"? The question of how marginalized and exploited workers, and women in an increasingly unsupportive economy receive the care they need is a crucial one. The crisis is visible enough already to have sparked national debate about the structure and function of our healthcare system.
There are policy suggestions on how to mitigate the care crisis, which propose healthcare reform or restructuring. There are several different types of proposals including a proposal that requires all people to have insurance, and proposals for a single-payer, universal healthcare system. Out of the currently proposed healthcare options, I believe the latter would provide more universal, continuous, and affordable care. Because it would create a single unified health system, it would close gaps in health disparities that are due to unequal access among classes, races, and genders in our society. In addition, the single-payer system would take out the interest of insurance corporations from making profit-driven decisions in cases where people’s health hangs in the balance.
However, without a complete revolution in the prioritization of care in our society, I believe the care crisis will persist regardless of the structure of our healthcare system. It is only by addressing the underlying dynamics of the exploitation and marginalization of care work, and those who do it, that our society could transform from one of failing health to one built on life affirming values of inclusion, nurturance, and health. In separating the provision of healthcare from a corporate profit motive or utilitarian focus on merely maintaining the ability of a person to work, our society may start developing an understanding of healthcare as a human right, and health as a holistic pursuit of protection from risk and access to all necessary resources. With a comprehensive change in priorities, we should have no problem finding enough money in the budget to eliminate dire scarcity for all those seeking support.
In addition to the federal policy proposals, other healthcare initiatives attempt to fill the gaps in care in our communities. There are religious institutions that provide care as charity. There are also non-profit organizations and community empowerment groups that have broached this work.
The concept of community organizing around care is very interesting to me. The concept that everyone has the right to healthcare makes the provision of that care everyone’s responsibility. Care becomes central to the community, and care providers are no longer isolated. This motivates responsive, relevant care. There are some historical examples of groups such as the Black Panthers and the Young Lords who created or occupied clinics in order to create community-focused care for communities that were underserved and exploited by the sociopolitical system (Gonzalez, 1995). There are also contemporary examples, arising from acute disaster such as Common Ground clinic in New Orleans (a grassroots clinic organized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to fill the immediate health needs of residents); and those arising from the slow boil of the everyday care crisis (such as community clinics that are abounding and networking across the country). While these efforts to build socially just health and care support strcutures are still small, to me they provide a living example of how communities can make care a central ethic, and to provide care universally in ways that do not minimize the experiences and needs of communities and of carers.
References:
Bywaters, Paul; Harris, Allison “Supporting Carers: Is Practice Still Sexist?” Health and Social Care in the Community (1998) 6:6
Gonzalez, Juan “Lincoln Emancipation Hospital Takeover in ’70 Made Medical History” The Nation (1995) July 18 ed.
Lindsay, Sally “The Care-Tech Link: An Examination of Gender, Care, and Technical Work in Healthcare Labor” Gender, Work & Organization (2008) 15:4
McGregor, JoAnn “Joining the British Bottom Cleaners: Migrants in the UK Care Industry” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2007) 33:5
Robertson, Christopher; Egelhof, Richard & Hoke, Michael "Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes of Home Foreclosures" Health Matrix 18 (2008): 65-105.
Rosen, Ruth “ The Care Crisis” The Nation (2007): March 12th ed.
relief
ahoy,
my name is five and i'm glad this blog is happening. i'm currently a first-semester student nurse at the empire of UPMC (university of pittsburgh medical center)-shadyside hospital, a 22 month RN program. in the past eight weeks, i have noticed that, out of roughly 100 students in my class, i am one of roughly two leftists of any stripe, and belong to only a handful of politicized people.
i very much look forward to hearing from you, fellow travelers.
my name is five and i'm glad this blog is happening. i'm currently a first-semester student nurse at the empire of UPMC (university of pittsburgh medical center)-shadyside hospital, a 22 month RN program. in the past eight weeks, i have noticed that, out of roughly 100 students in my class, i am one of roughly two leftists of any stripe, and belong to only a handful of politicized people.
i very much look forward to hearing from you, fellow travelers.
Lets do this thing
Hello beautifuls...
So far this blog has taken several different forms. As a personal blog it has been totally unused and I thought maybe it could have better use in another form.
Over the last year I have had numerous conversations with you all about our feelings of isolation and desire for collaboration with like minded folks. I promised Becca over beers last May that I'd make a blog that we could use to discuss vision, seek support, voice frustrations, and discuss questions of how we, as health workers, can work towards radical social change. It only took me 5 months. :)
Please, please post! I want to hear whats going on with you all and I want to read interesting articles you find and things you've been thinking about and grappling with. I think a lot of you know each other, but some of you don't, so please make a little intro the first time you post. I will try my best to keep the blog organized.
For me, I think a forum like this will be important not only to address the isolation I sometimes feel (no, there aren't that many queer radicals in med school), but also to keep me grounded and allow a space where I can reflect and challenge the dominant pedagogy impressed upon me by my education and training. Then there's also the crushing feeling that the health system, which is *supposed* to help people feel better does so much harm and is so big and so fucked up, leading me to wonder how will we ever get something better, and OMG what if I become a complacent cog and....?
It is also really hard to do it all, to study hard and do well in school and keep some touch on politics-- especially right now with such absurd controversy over health legislation that is nearly worthless.
So, enough ranting. I am really, really excited about building with you all. I hope this can be one small step in that direction.
in love and solidarity,
xoxo liz
So far this blog has taken several different forms. As a personal blog it has been totally unused and I thought maybe it could have better use in another form.
Over the last year I have had numerous conversations with you all about our feelings of isolation and desire for collaboration with like minded folks. I promised Becca over beers last May that I'd make a blog that we could use to discuss vision, seek support, voice frustrations, and discuss questions of how we, as health workers, can work towards radical social change. It only took me 5 months. :)
Please, please post! I want to hear whats going on with you all and I want to read interesting articles you find and things you've been thinking about and grappling with. I think a lot of you know each other, but some of you don't, so please make a little intro the first time you post. I will try my best to keep the blog organized.
For me, I think a forum like this will be important not only to address the isolation I sometimes feel (no, there aren't that many queer radicals in med school), but also to keep me grounded and allow a space where I can reflect and challenge the dominant pedagogy impressed upon me by my education and training. Then there's also the crushing feeling that the health system, which is *supposed* to help people feel better does so much harm and is so big and so fucked up, leading me to wonder how will we ever get something better, and OMG what if I become a complacent cog and....?
It is also really hard to do it all, to study hard and do well in school and keep some touch on politics-- especially right now with such absurd controversy over health legislation that is nearly worthless.
So, enough ranting. I am really, really excited about building with you all. I hope this can be one small step in that direction.
in love and solidarity,
xoxo liz
Monday, June 8, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
and so it begins...
hi! liz ... thank you SO much for inviting me to share this blog. i am excited to share this space for exploring how our visions of radical health care will manifest in our lives and practices. as i begin the transition into boston and nursing school i'm glad to have a place to exchange ideas and resources with folks committed to using health care as a tool of empowerment instead of oppression. much love and much excitement...tia
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
no pig in swine flu
From ProMed:
"It is now apparent that the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus currently circulating in humans, though genetically linked to swine influenza viruses, has not been found in swine and that swine do not appear to be involved in the ongoing epidemic. For that reason, and in keeping with usage by WHO and other agencies, ProMED will drop the term "swine flu" from our coverage. We expect the term will continue to be used by the media and in common usage for some time."
good thing Egypt just slaughtered 300,000 pigs and the jobs of all the folks who worked there.
sigh.
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org. you can find them here: http://www.promedmail.org
"It is now apparent that the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus currently circulating in humans, though genetically linked to swine influenza viruses, has not been found in swine and that swine do not appear to be involved in the ongoing epidemic. For that reason, and in keeping with usage by WHO and other agencies, ProMED will drop the term "swine flu" from our coverage. We expect the term will continue to be used by the media and in common usage for some time."
good thing Egypt just slaughtered 300,000 pigs and the jobs of all the folks who worked there.
sigh.
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org. you can find them here: http://www.promedmail.org
Sunday, April 26, 2009
WHO declares swine flu crisis a health emergency
this isn't good.
GENEVA: The World Health Organization has declared the swine flu outbreak
in North America a "public health emergency of international concern". The
decision means countries around the world will be asked to step up
reporting and surveillance of the disease implicated in dozens of human
deaths in Mexico and at least 8 non fatal cases in the US. WHO fears the
outbreak could spread to other countries and is calling for a coordinated
response to contain it.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan made the decision late on Saturday after
consulting influenza experts during an emergency meeting. She earlier told
reporters the outbreak had "pandemic potential." But her agency held off
raising its pandemic alert level, citing the need for more information.
"It would be prudent for health officials within countries to be alert to
outbreaks of influenza-like illness or pneumonia, especially if these occur
in months outside the usual peak influenza season," Chan told reporters by
telephone from Geneva, where she convened an emergency meeting of influenza
experts. "Another important signal is excess cases of severe or fatal
flu-like illness in groups other than young children and the elderly, who
are usually at highest risk during normal seasonal flu," she said. Several
Latin American and Asian countries have already started surveillance or
screening at airports and other points of entry.
At least 62 people have died from severe pneumonia caused by a flu-like
illness in Mexico, WHO says. Some of those who died are confirmed to have a
unique flu type that is a combination of bird, pig, and human viruses. The
virus is genetically identical to one found in California. US authorities
said 8 people were infected with swine flu in California and Texas, and all
recovered. So far, no other countries have reported suspicious cases,
according to WHO. But the French government said suspected cases are likely
to occur in the coming days because of global air travel. A French
government crisis group began operating Saturday. The government has
already closed the French school in Mexico City and provided French
citizens there with detailed instructions on precautions.
Chilean authorities ordered a sanitary alert that included airport
screening of passengers arriving from Mexico. No cases of the disease have
been reported so far in the country, deputy health minister Jeanette Vega
said, but those showing symptoms will be sent to a hospital for tests. In
Peru, authorities will monitor travelers arriving from Mexico and the US
and people with flu-like symptoms will be evaluated by health teams, Peru's
Health Ministry said. Brazil will "intensify its health surveillance in all
points of entry into the country," the Health Ministry's National Health
Surveillance Agency said in a statement. Measures will also be put in place
to inspect cargo andluggage, and to clean and disinfect aircraft and ships
at ports of entry.
Some Asian nations enforced checks Saturday on passengers from Mexico.
Japan's biggest international airport stepped up health surveillance, while
the Philippines said it may quarantine passengers with fevers who have been
to Mexico. Health authorities in Thailand and Hong Kong said they were
closely monitoring the situation. Asia has fresh memories of an outbreak of
severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which hit countries across the
region and severely crippled global air travel. Indonesia, China, Thailand,
Vietnam and other countries have also seen a number of human deaths from
H5N1 bird flu, the virus that researchers have until now fingered as the
most likely cause of a future pandemic.
The Dutch government's Institute for Public Health and Environment has
advised any traveler who returned from Mexico since April 17 and develops a
fever over 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit (38.5 Celsius) within four days of
arriving in the Netherlands to stay at home. The Polish Foreign Ministry
has issued a statement that recommends that Poles postpone any travel plans
to regions where the outbreak has occurred until it is totally contained.
The Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said
earlier Saturday it shared the concerns about the swine flu cases and stood
ready to lend support in any way possible.
WHO's emergency committee, called together Saturday for the first time
since it was created in 2007, draws on experts from around the world. They
may decide that the outbreak constitutes an international public health
emergency. If so, they will consider whether WHO should recommend travel
advisories, trade restrictions or border closures and raise its pandemic
alert level.
[byline: Maria Cheng]
GENEVA: The World Health Organization has declared the swine flu outbreak
in North America a "public health emergency of international concern". The
decision means countries around the world will be asked to step up
reporting and surveillance of the disease implicated in dozens of human
deaths in Mexico and at least 8 non fatal cases in the US. WHO fears the
outbreak could spread to other countries and is calling for a coordinated
response to contain it.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan made the decision late on Saturday after
consulting influenza experts during an emergency meeting. She earlier told
reporters the outbreak had "pandemic potential." But her agency held off
raising its pandemic alert level, citing the need for more information.
"It would be prudent for health officials within countries to be alert to
outbreaks of influenza-like illness or pneumonia, especially if these occur
in months outside the usual peak influenza season," Chan told reporters by
telephone from Geneva, where she convened an emergency meeting of influenza
experts. "Another important signal is excess cases of severe or fatal
flu-like illness in groups other than young children and the elderly, who
are usually at highest risk during normal seasonal flu," she said. Several
Latin American and Asian countries have already started surveillance or
screening at airports and other points of entry.
At least 62 people have died from severe pneumonia caused by a flu-like
illness in Mexico, WHO says. Some of those who died are confirmed to have a
unique flu type that is a combination of bird, pig, and human viruses. The
virus is genetically identical to one found in California. US authorities
said 8 people were infected with swine flu in California and Texas, and all
recovered. So far, no other countries have reported suspicious cases,
according to WHO. But the French government said suspected cases are likely
to occur in the coming days because of global air travel. A French
government crisis group began operating Saturday. The government has
already closed the French school in Mexico City and provided French
citizens there with detailed instructions on precautions.
Chilean authorities ordered a sanitary alert that included airport
screening of passengers arriving from Mexico. No cases of the disease have
been reported so far in the country, deputy health minister Jeanette Vega
said, but those showing symptoms will be sent to a hospital for tests. In
Peru, authorities will monitor travelers arriving from Mexico and the US
and people with flu-like symptoms will be evaluated by health teams, Peru's
Health Ministry said. Brazil will "intensify its health surveillance in all
points of entry into the country," the Health Ministry's National Health
Surveillance Agency said in a statement. Measures will also be put in place
to inspect cargo andluggage, and to clean and disinfect aircraft and ships
at ports of entry.
Some Asian nations enforced checks Saturday on passengers from Mexico.
Japan's biggest international airport stepped up health surveillance, while
the Philippines said it may quarantine passengers with fevers who have been
to Mexico. Health authorities in Thailand and Hong Kong said they were
closely monitoring the situation. Asia has fresh memories of an outbreak of
severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which hit countries across the
region and severely crippled global air travel. Indonesia, China, Thailand,
Vietnam and other countries have also seen a number of human deaths from
H5N1 bird flu, the virus that researchers have until now fingered as the
most likely cause of a future pandemic.
The Dutch government's Institute for Public Health and Environment has
advised any traveler who returned from Mexico since April 17 and develops a
fever over 101.3 degrees Fahrenheit (38.5 Celsius) within four days of
arriving in the Netherlands to stay at home. The Polish Foreign Ministry
has issued a statement that recommends that Poles postpone any travel plans
to regions where the outbreak has occurred until it is totally contained.
The Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said
earlier Saturday it shared the concerns about the swine flu cases and stood
ready to lend support in any way possible.
WHO's emergency committee, called together Saturday for the first time
since it was created in 2007, draws on experts from around the world. They
may decide that the outbreak constitutes an international public health
emergency. If so, they will consider whether WHO should recommend travel
advisories, trade restrictions or border closures and raise its pandemic
alert level.
[byline: Maria Cheng]
Monday, March 2, 2009
First US Community Health Center- Mississippi
Out in the Rural: A Health Center in Mississippi
Produced and Directed by Judy Schader Rogers. Community Health Action.
Produced and Directed by Judy Schader Rogers. Community Health Action.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
bubble charts and gap minder
So here is a super useful tool to visualizing and understanding global statistical trends in disease, poverty, and disparity. Using google motion charts, it makes global data accessible.
You can look at gaps globally, between individual coutnries, and within the U.S.
Some indicators it uses:
- Health (morbidity, mortality, disease prevalence, life expectancy, treatment, etc)
- Poverty (poverty gap ratio, GDP, pop %s)
- forms of government
- employment rates
- im/emigration
they also have ones like : "bad teeth per person" and sugar consumption
CHECK IT: http://graphs.gapminder.org/world/
the animated ones are the best, so you should go to the site, but just so you get the idea, here's one i made:
http://graphs.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=6;ti=2000$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=pyj6tScZqmEf96wv_abR0OA;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0NpF2PTov2Cw;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=14;dataMax=100$map_y;scale=log;dataMin=2;dataMax=420$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=6;ti=2000$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=pyj6tScZqmEf96wv%5FabR0OA;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0NpF2PTov2Cw;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL%5Fn5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=14;dataMax=100$map_y;scale=log;dataMin=2;dataMax=420$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=
You can look at gaps globally, between individual coutnries, and within the U.S.
Some indicators it uses:
- Health (morbidity, mortality, disease prevalence, life expectancy, treatment, etc)
- Poverty (poverty gap ratio, GDP, pop %s)
- forms of government
- employment rates
- im/emigration
they also have ones like : "bad teeth per person" and sugar consumption
CHECK IT: http://graphs.gapminder.org/world/
the animated ones are the best, so you should go to the site, but just so you get the idea, here's one i made:
http://graphs.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=6;ti=2000$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=pyj6tScZqmEf96wv_abR0OA;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0NpF2PTov2Cw;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=14;dataMax=100$map_y;scale=log;dataMin=2;dataMax=420$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=6;ti=2000$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=pyj6tScZqmEf96wv%5FabR0OA;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0NpF2PTov2Cw;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL%5Fn5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=14;dataMax=100$map_y;scale=log;dataMin=2;dataMax=420$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Health Crisis in Gaza
As you probably already know, the people who live in Gaza are enduring a brutal attack by the IDF. Here are things that you can do (borrowed from the amazing josh connor):
-Donate money for medical relief:
www.mecaforpeace.org (Middle East Children's Alliance)
www.palestinercs.org (Palestine Red Crescent Society)
-Join the movement of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions to make Israel end its program of apartheid and ethnic cleansing: www.bdsmovement.net
-Stay Updated:
electronicintifada.net
angryarab.blogspot.com
english.aljazeera.net
- if you are a MEDICAL STUDENT, then sign this letter some boston folks have written:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p--BqWCFXm7KC87vlo1PLdw
also, look for protests in your region and go to them!
yours for ending the occupation,
xo liz
-Donate money for medical relief:
www.mecaforpeace.org (Middle East Children's Alliance)
www.palestinercs.org (Palestine Red Crescent Society)
-Join the movement of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions to make Israel end its program of apartheid and ethnic cleansing: www.bdsmovement.net
-Stay Updated:
electronicintifada.net
angryarab.blogspot.com
english.aljazeera.net
- if you are a MEDICAL STUDENT, then sign this letter some boston folks have written:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p--BqWCFXm7KC87vlo1PLdw
also, look for protests in your region and go to them!
yours for ending the occupation,
xo liz
Monday, January 5, 2009
and we're back
Hey lovelies...
after a wonderful two weeks cruising around upstate ny with mr. david p. stein, and thinking and writing lots and lots about abolition, I'm back in boston, and school has started.
sigh.
but this semester, we start the real shit: anatomy, physiology, physical diagnosis.
yes, it is indeed game on.
after a wonderful two weeks cruising around upstate ny with mr. david p. stein, and thinking and writing lots and lots about abolition, I'm back in boston, and school has started.
sigh.
but this semester, we start the real shit: anatomy, physiology, physical diagnosis.
yes, it is indeed game on.
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