Boston University
School of Public Health
Department of Global Health
The Global Health Lens
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Issue: 42
July 2nd 2018
Past issues can be found
here
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In this GH Lens Issue:
- Events
- Opportunities
- Certificate Announcements
- DGH Notable Mentions
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External Events:
Thursday, July 19th 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT Webinar
Cost-effectiveness analysis can help decision-makers gain a better understanding of the value of investments of global health interventions. Hosted by the
C
enter for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR), this webinar will explore global health resource prioritization and how stakeholders can leverage global cost-per-DALY averted findings to make resource allocation decisions. We will also show researchers a tool for converting clinical outcomes to DALYs to use in economic models.
Featuring:
Peter J. Neumann, ScD
Director of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center, and Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Joshua T. Cohen, PhD
Deputy Director and Chief Science Officer of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at the Tufts Medical Center Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, and a Research Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine.
Monday September 17th 2:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Joseph B. Martin Conference Center 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston
The Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health cordially invites you to a Global Maternal Health Symposium. The symposium will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Maternal Health Task Force, showcase achievements in global maternal health and chart a course forward for critical steps to end preventable maternal mortality and optimize maternal health around the world. A reception will follow. At the symposium, we will also announce the recipients of the inaugural Maternal Health Visionary Awards.
September 23rd-28th 2018
The MQPH 2018 Conference will take place in Oxford, United Kingdom, from 23 – 28 September 2018. The international conference on Medicine Quality & Public Health will bring together people from sectors such as: public health, national regulatory authorities, pharmacy, biomedical, chemistry, law, ethics, cultural and social sciences, the pharmaceutical industry, international organisations, NGOs, national procurement centres, and internet and pharmaceutical forensics. Register as soon as possible for the limited number of early bird prices that are available!
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This position will be based in Los Angeles and will provide 70% support for clinically oriented research and program projects based in Malawi, Africa. The position will also provide 30% administrative support to the program, working with UCLA faculty and staff based in both Los Angeles and Malawi. We are particularly looking for someone good on the quant side who can help with INTERVAL data management.
Questions
- Reach out to:
Risa Hoffman
or
Ashley Bardon
Under the direction of the Program Quality Manager, the Analyst leads and coordinates supports the analysis and utilization of routine program monitoring, evaluation, research data to support data-driven decision making and adaptive management in the program’s quality management system
This is a unique opportunity for highly qualified and motivated fellows to engage in on the ground implementation science programming and research and tackle some of the most pressing operational and implementation science questions relevant to HIV in resource limited settings.
Opioid Abuse/Addiction in Mothers and Infants during the Postpartum Period
Interested in helping out a team of clinicians at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with this particular work? Reach out to
Nancy White Street
at the College of Nursing with your interest and relative experience.
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Certificate Announcements
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Fall Course Spotlight
GH795: Global AIDS Epidemic: Social & Economic Determinants Impact & Responses
SPH GH 885: Global Trade, Intellectual Property, and Public Health
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Taught by: Dr. Lisa Messersmith on Tuesdays from 10:00am-1:00pm
Course Description: AIDS is one of the most important pandemics and human development challenges of our time. This course explores the determinants and impacts of the AIDS pandemic and examines best practices in prevention, care and treatment and impact mitigation. Students will explore the relationship between human rights, gender and vulnerability to HIV; examine effective multi-sectoral responses; and evaluate the benefits and limitations of major multi- and bi-lateral AIDS initiatives. Students will also examine the major debates in the AIDS field and explore different, at times contradictory, perspectives.
Great for students in the SSG, ID, GH and PM certificates and those interested in discussing rights-based and multi-sectoral responses to the HIV pandemic.
Taught by: Warren Kaplan on Monday from 6:00pm-8:50pm
Whether one works in a district hospital in Zambia or as a policy person in the US, a better understanding of the impact of global trade rules on the public's health should be a necessary part of the public health practitioner's knowledge and expertise. As one example, in 1993, the US, Canada and Mexico ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with the ostensible purpose of improving trade relations and economic prosperity for all countries. The pharmaceutical and biotech industries, plus a coalition of doctors and hospitals, lobbied for strong intellectual property rights, arguing that research and development (R&D) required for pharmaceutical innovation involved high risks and costs and that weak patent rights (weak by their standards) undermined job creation by the industry. Since then, increasing drug prices have led to medication non compliance on the part of a growing number of persons in all three countries, with significant impact on the public’s health. Big pharma has requested changes in national laws to eliminate a system of compulsory licensing where such licensing allows competitors to produce drugs still under patent without the consent of the patent holder, if public interest, such as a public health emergency, warrants it. This, in principle, challenges drug monopolies and leads to lower prices, whereas intellectual property rights have the opposite effect – they lengthen patent protections, thus shielding patent holders from competition and leading to higher prices.
What is the evidence for this? GH885 is designed to introduce the student (Pharm certificate or otherwise) to this ecosystem of trade, patents and public health but be prepared to question your assumptions about the role of patents in driving up prices. Be prepared to puzzle out the answers to these "big picture" questions: 1) Why is drug development treated as a market good rather than a public good or service? 2) Do provisions within global trade agreements deal with the tension between private corporate interests and public needs?
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Department of Global Health Notable Mentions:
Publications, Poster Sessions, Media, and Awards in our GH Community
Faculty, Staff Students & Alumni
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This week we are excited to highlight Kofi Addo's global practicum through his BUSPH Instagram takeover! Kofi is a current MPH student and also a member of our DGH Staff as one of our student Administrative Assistants!
"Hi! My name is
Kofi Addo
, 2nd year MPH student pursuing certificates in Pharmaceutical Development, Delivery & Access and Community Assessment, Program Design Implementation and Evaluation (CAPDIE). Since May, I’ve been working as Clinical Trial Registry Analyst at the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) of Kenya for my summer practicum. PPB is the drug regulatory authority of Kenya that enforces measures to ensure that drugs and medical devices adhere to the highest standards of safety and efficacy..."
Read more here and follow along all week!
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Article by Alumna
Madeline Bishop
(SPH '17) and Campbell Rawlins (COM '17) in
NPR Goats & Soda: Stories of Life in a Changing World
Maddie and Campbell were both 2017 Pulitzer Center Fellows as apart of
BU's Program for Global Health Storytelling
. The goal for their Pulitzer fellowship project looking for the stories in Guyana, the country behind the world’s highest suicide rate. “Guyana isn’t the only country dealing with these issues,” Bishop says. “The world can learn many lessons about mental health reform and suicide prevention, even from a tiny country in the Caribbean.” For more about their work check out
Public Health Post
and
SPH News
. Congratulations Maddie & Campbell!
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Sivalogan, K., Semrau, K. E. A.,
Ashigbie, P.
G., Mwangi, S., Herlihy, J. M.,
Yeboah-Antwi, K
., …
Hamer, D. H.
(2018).
Influence of newborn health messages on care-seeking practices and community health behaviors among participants in the Zambia Chlorhexidine Application Trial.
PLoS ONE, 13(6), e0198176.
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Co-PIs:
Richard Laing, Peter Rockers, Veronika Wirtz
"The Access Observatory is a
first-of-its-kind global reporting platform designed to track pharmaceutical companies’ contributions to non-communicable disease prevention and treatment.
The Access Observatory 2018 Report summarizes the important initial results of that work.
Access Accelerated asked a team at Boston University School of Public health to develop a new framework for measuring program achievements. “There is widespread skepticism about whether the programs of the pharma companies really make a difference. Some people believe that good intention must lead to good outcomes, while others argue that these programs do not respond to local need and may actually cause harm,” explains Richard Laing, professor of Global health and co-principle investigator (PI) of the project. “Throughout my professional career in global health I have always argued for transparent reporting of access programs but existing industry reporting relies largely on confidential data. With the Access Observatory we are breaking new grounds as all data is freely available to the public.”
Click
here
for full press release
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Whether you are an alum of SPH, a SPH faculty/staff member, a student in the Global Health Certificate, a Global Health interested student in another certificate, or just a friend of the Department of Global Health, we hope the weekly
GLOBAL HEALTH LENS
can be a one-stop-shop for our Global Health Community here at Boston University School of Public Health.
Have something to contribute? Send an email to my contact information below.
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