Challenges in Public Health: Infectious Disease and Community Solutions

 

Background: A recent study (Worth and Henderson 2006) forecasts the alarming rate of 11% total population infection with HIV/AIDS by 2015. While some prevention campaigns are visible in major cities, few have reached rural areas, and as increased migration continues to rise with improved infrastructure throughout the country, so does the spread of the virus. Some of the biggest development initiatives in PNG to date revolve around AIDS, specifically the work of the Clinton Foundation in funding rural health care programs in the Highlands and providing free access to ARV treatment.

Key Issues:

Burgeoning AIDS epidemic
Challenge of endemic malaria
Access to sterile modern health facilities
Maternal and child health
Public health organizing and education

Panelists

 

Dr. Fabian Ndenzako

Dr. Ndenzako, a Tanzanian native, is the HIV/AIDS Program Director for the World Health Organization's Western Pacific Region. He holds a Master Degree in International Community Health from the University of Oslo, Norway and Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) from the University of Dar Es Salaam Tanzania. He worked with AMREF Tanzania as National Program Manager for workplace HIV/AIDS interventions program before joining WHO. He is an outstanding and excellent consultant who has had high achievements in his career. He has extensive experience in training program designs, training material development, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of programs. He has worked closely with Ministries, different National and International NGOs in planning and implementation of intervention of HIV/AIDS at workplaces, VCT and Home-based Care of AIDS patients.

Dr. Rachel Hinton

Since 2006, Dr. Hinton has worked as a Research Advisor with the Oxfam Highlands Programme in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea developing an evidence-base to strengthen peacebuilding and conflict reduction programming, policy and advocacy. She trained as a social anthropologist at Waikato University in New Zealand before taking up a position in Papua New Guinea (PNG) as a Senior Scientific Officer in 2002 with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research, the premier research institute in the country. Over four years she worked in the Sepik, Madang and Milne Bay on a variety of qualitative and quantitative studies on issues of importance in PNG including women’s health across the life span, child health and barriers to effective health service provision. She has an active research interest in the links between health, human rights and development; community perceptions of insecurity; gender justice; and resilience and coping strategies. Rachael has recently completed her PhD in International Health at the Centre for International Health at Curtin University in Western Australia and her thesis explored the links between women’s health and women’s lives in Papua New Guinea and the implications for policy and health care delivery and has led to several publications.

Dr. Kerry J. Pataki-Schweizer

Dr. Pataki-Schweizer is a professor of Medical Anthropology at Portland Community College. His past fieldwork includes many years in Papua New Guinea, and also in Irian Jaya, the western half of the island, working in various areas of health and development. His publications include, “Knowledge of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea” (1993) and “Epidemiology, Behavior, and Health: A Melanesian Example” (1987). His purview includes eminently “developing” countries in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia and related activities with major NGOs. Globalization, a behemoth without benefit of algorithm, has only intensified concern about development, given its disproportionate impacts and consequent regressions. A brief presentation makes some observations on health as a primary factor and world impetus in development, several related institutional broadsides, and some fundamental themes as principles of development best seen today as realities.

Dr. Robert Siegel

Dr. Siegel is a professor in the Human Biology Department at Stanford University. He has also served as an advisor for Students for International Change (SIC) since its inception and teaches the biology of HIV/AIDS at Stanford and the pre-field training for SIC in Tanzania. He has been at Stanford for over 35 years, both as a student and as a member of the faculty. Bob is in charge of the preclinical infectious disease curriculum at Stanford medical school and co-director of the International Health Scholarly Concentration. He serves on the advisory board of numerous international organizations including FACE AIDS, Support for International Change, Ocean Medicine Foundation and Free the Children. He has traveled and worked in Papua New Guinea with the Stanford Papua New Guinea Medical Project in the Sepik.

Panel Time and Location

Saturday, Feb. 27, 1:30-3:00 p.m., Building 320-105