SEATTLE — The tremendous progress made in global health over the past 25 years is somewhat sullied by its inequity. Advancements in health technology have been negated in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to deteriorating surgical and anesthetic care. Lagging surgical healthcare in poor countries, particularly in rural areas, contributes to an overwhelmed and inoperative health system unable to meet the increasing needs of people. Surgical and anesthetic care is vital for a strong health system to meet a wide range of global health challenges, but in reality it is falling behind in many countries. According to Paul Farmer,…
Author: Preeti Yadav
Preeti Yadav
Preeti writes for The Borgen Project from Portland, OR. She has a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering and has worked as a biomedical engineer for 6 years. Preeti recently transitioned out of this role to pursue her passion for writing and utilize her skills towards affecting positive change. Preeti's dream is to live in a bamboo cottage on a beautiful beach in Asia with her husband, pursue local humanitarian work and continue writing.
GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO), headquartered in Geneva, is a division of U.N. and the primary organization overlooking global public health. It works closely with national governments and health agencies to control, treat and prevent diseases. The WHO has been subjected to ongoing censure due to its perceived inadequate response to the Ebola outbreak and underestimation of the scale of the problem. It is blamed for its initial missteps, for not intervening sooner and for overburdening the countries under attack. Several warnings from Doctors Without Borders indicating that local governments were unable or unwilling to deal with the…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump’s immigration ban, initially instated through an executive order (EO) on Jan. 27, 2017, was suspended by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 9, 2017. According to this EO, refugees were barred from the U.S. for 120 days, Syrian refugees were indefinitely banned and citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen were precluded from entering the U.S. for 90 days. In a swift response, legal, health and human rights experts convened on Feb. 2, 2017, for a symposium, “Executive Order on Refugees: An Emerging Public Health Crisis” to assess the ramifications of…
SEATTLE — The Syria Fund, founded by Lexi Shereshewsky and Demetri Blaisdell, is a volunteer-run nonprofit that supports Syrian refugees with education and heals broken spirits with music. The Borgen Project spoke to Shereshewsky to gain a greater appreciation of the organization’s efforts to make a positive change. Shereshewsky and Blaisdell lived in Syria for two years and experienced its vibrant culture infused with hospitality. Shereshewsky recounted their experience evoking images of tolerant, compassionate and generous people. The Arab Spring uprising and the resulting civil war began soon after they left Syria in 2011, and quickly evolved into a conflict characterized…
SEATTLE — The Lake Chad humanitarian crisis is a result of continuous violence perpetrated by the extremist insurgency group Boko Haram since 2013 in Lake Chad Basin, comprising parts of Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. Depth of the crisis The region has borne the loss of more than 26,000 people in Borno alone. Insurgents have abducted hundreds of girls and used countless children as suicide bombers. Widespread destruction of villages, hospitals and schools accompanies loss of life, and millions and fled their homes. Insurgents have also destroyed about 40 percent of health facilities in Borno and reportedly displaced somewhere between…
SEATTLE — Air pollution is a growing health concern, already the cause of 6.5 million deaths each year. The World Health Organization (WHO) 2016 database, which consists of 3,000 cities in 103 countries, revealed an eight percent increase in pollutant levels over the last five years. About 80 percent of people in urban areas are living in areas that exceed the WHO’s air quality standards. Air pollution in developing countries is particularly concerning with 98 percent of cities exceeding the acceptable pollution limits by five to ten times. What is air pollution? Air pollution is measured in terms of microscopic…
SEATTLE — November 2016 marked 70 years of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an organization dedicated to lifting children out of poverty and providing them with opportunities. UNICEF has spearheaded global efforts targeting illiteracy, disease, malnutrition, violence and discrimination. To observe the milestone, UNICEF called upon writers from across the globe to share their visions of what every child deserves. The resulting online campaign, called Tiny Stories, was based on the theme “what I want for every child.” The concept was initially introduced by First Lady of Finland Jeni Haukio and soon became a global event with writers participating from Asia,…
WASHINGTON — Let Girls Learn is Michelle Obama’s enduring campaign to empower adolescent girls through quality education. Ninety-eight million adolescent girls in the world are not allowed to attend school. The former first lady recognized this as a “heartbreaking loss,” and a travesty so compelling she had to take action. A quarter of a billion girls live in poverty. In the developing world, one in every nine girls is married by age 15. Millions more are subjected to genital mutilation and violence while countless are infected with HIV. Research shows that when adolescent girls are empowered with quality education, they can achieve financial…