GHP Weekly NewsletterMay 3, 2024Welcome back to another edition of the GHP weekly newsletter! Please keep reading for new community updates, events, and open opportunities in GHP.
If you have any suggestions on content you’d like to see included in subsequent issues of the GHP weekly newsletter, please contact the department’s administrative team at ghp@hsph.harvard.edu. We’d love to hear from you!
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Last week, GHP’s 2024 Global Health Week marked the 30th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. On Monday, April 22, the week kicked off with an engaging debate between Maggie McConnell and Kevin Croke, who were kept on track by student moderators Jioni Tuck and Nicky Rahim. Kevin argued that the most critical gap in maternal health policymaking is high quality evidence, while Maggie argued that high quality evidence is not enough to address the issue of translating evidence into policy. After splitting the room and consulting attendees to strengthen their arguments, Maggie won the debate by a vote of 15‒13.
On Tuesday, we were joined on Zoom by Carmen Barroso and Kelly Blanchard. Carmen and Kelly had an insightful conversation about the significance of the ICPD for establishing women as agents in the context of health care and the role that feminist organizing played in having civil society organizations included in the conference. To learn more about Carmen’s work leading up to the conference and Kelly’s work in reproductive health today, check out the conversation. On Thursday, our weekly Brown Bag Seminar was presented by Leigh Senderowicz, assistant professor at University of Wisconsin–Madison and GHP alum. Leigh presented her research on coercion and autonomy in global family planning programs 30 years after Cairo and highlighted the need to improve contraceptive autonomy.
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On Friday, April 26, the week culminated in our symposium and poster day, where we were honored to receive a keynote address from Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Kanem noted that the ICPD’s assertion that sexual and reproductive health and rights must be at the center of development programs is an enduring promise, and “it’s a promise playing out in the lives of millions of girls today with ripple effects across human society.” However, she also highlighted a recent UNFPA study that shows increasing inequality due to targeting interventions toward those who are more privileged rather than those who are furthest behind. To move forward, she concluded, we must recognize that our strength is like that of a tapestry—it "comes not from any individual strand but from the collective, interwoven whole."
Our two panels, featuring speakers who contributed to and attended the 1994 ICPD and speakers who have been working on related topics in the years since, then looked back at the conference to consider its historical significance and discuss topics that were insufficiently addressed. In closing, Marcia Castro announced Muqi Guo, Alexa Tovsen, and Celline Wijaya as the winners of our 2024 Global Health Week poster day. A recording of the symposium will be available in the coming weeks. Thank you to everyone who participated and made the week a success!
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Arnaud Iradukunda Attends United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum
Arnaud Iradukunda, Takemi Fellow and delegate from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, participated in the 2024 ECOSOC Youth Forum held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from April 16 to 18, 2024. The three-day event featured plenary sessions, interactive thematic and regionally based discussions, and opportunities for a rich exchange of views and ideas on innovative solutions to issues of relevance to young people on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. During the forum, Arnaud had the opportunity to engage with government representatives, youth delegates, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders in civil society and the private sector and to discuss intellectual property, leadership, and innovation in the era of artificial intelligence. He also contributed to the intergovernmental consultations on the Summit of the Future.
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Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Completes Humanitarian Response Simulation
The 2024 iteration of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) Humanitarian Response Simulation was conducted successfully from April 26 to 28, 2024, at the Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover, Massachusetts! One hundred and ten students from HHI’s Humanitarian Response Intensive Course and the Harvard Chan School’s International Humanitarian Response II course (GHP 518) participated in the simulation, and more than 160 volunteers helped make the simulation a success. Students came from over 26 countries and were grouped into 18 NGO teams to respond to a simulated complex humanitarian emergency. The simulation is co-directed by HHI’s Sean Kivlehan, MD, MPH, and Michelle Niescierenko, MD, MPH. To learn more, watch the video highlighting the course.
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Jake Figi, MBBS, MPH, began his new position as a postdoctoral fellow working with Rifat Atun on April 16. Jake first joined GHP in the Health Systems Innovation Lab (HSIL) in 2021, and at the end of 2023, he became a research assistant working on the Global Collaborative for Changing Diabetes in Children project (GC-CDiC), involved in setting up a multinational virtual cohort study of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus. As a postdoc, he will continue his work on the GC-CDiC project, as well as the Lancet Commission on Cancer in the Commonwealth and the Data Collaborative on Health Systems Performance (DC-HSP) project. Jake can be reached via email at jfigi@hsph.harvard.edu.
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Upcoming Events
Speakers will share their own perspectives; they do not speak for Harvard.
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Today! Mittal Institute’s Annual Cambridge Symposium: Science and Technology – The Future of South Asia
Friday, May 3 / 9 am – 5 pm / Belfer Room (S020), CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Join the Mittal Institute today for their Annual Cambridge Symposium, which is free and open to the public! In the morning, learn about genetics and medicine and the “HUM SAB EK – We Are One” exhibition. Afternoon discussions will focus on climate change in South Asia, the role of empathy in global health and social medicine, and, at 3:15pm, the Mittal Institute will honor Senior Lecturer on Global Health Richard Cash’s impactful work in South Asia. The event will conclude with the Annual Harish C. Mahindra Lecture on “Lessons from the Pandemic for Science and Global Health,” presented by Soumya Swaminathan and moderated by Megan Murray. Visit the event website for the full agenda and to register to attend online or in person.
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Nutrition and Global Health Monthly Seminar: Balanced Energy–Protein (BEP) Supplement Trials in Pakistan
Monday, May 6 / 1–2 pm / Kresge 502 & Zoom
This talk will be presented by Yasir Shafiq, a senior instructor of research at Aga Khan University, Pakistan, and visiting graduate student at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. This talk will cover two trials that were conducted among lactating mothers and pregnant women in peri-urban settlements of Karachi, Pakistan. The speaker will present the main outcomes of the trials: the impact of intervention on infant growth and birth outcomes.
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Takemi Fellows Poster Presentation and Certificate Ceremony
Tuesday, May 7 / 11 am – 2 pm / Kresge Atrium & Building 1, Room 1208
The Takemi Program in International Health invites you to celebrate the efforts of this year's Takemi Fellows! Takemi Fellows' final posters will be available for viewing in the Kresge Atrium beginning at 11 am, and Fellows will be presenting their work from 12 to 1 pm. At 1 pm, the Takemi Program will hold its certificate ceremony in Building 1, Room 1208.
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2025–2026 HBNU Fogarty Global Health Fellowship Info Session
Monday, June 3 / 10–11 am / Zoom
The HBNU Fogarty Global Health Training Program provides one-year mentored research fellowship opportunities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for PhD candidates, medical students, and postdoctoral candidates from the U.S. and LMICs. The program supports research in areas of interest including HIV/AIDS, non-communicable diseases, mental health, maternal and child health and nutrition, and more. Register below to attend the info session to learn about the fellowship from program PIs and alumni and ask questions. Please visit the fellowship website to learn more, and if you have any questions, please contact coordinator Lizi Fine or PI Wafaie Fawzi.
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Open Call for Applications
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2024 Urban Humanitarian Emergencies Course
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is excited to announce that registration for the Urban Humanitarian Emergencies Course is now open! The course will be offered in person from July 16 to 19, 2024, in Cambridge, MA. Visit the course website to learn more and register.
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2025–2026 HBNU Fogarty Global Health Fellowship
The HBNU Fogarty Global Health Training Program provides one-year mentored research fellowship opportunities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for PhD candidates, medical students, and postdoctoral candidates from the U.S. and LMICs. The program supports research in areas of interest including HIV/AIDS, non-communicable diseases, mental health, maternal and child health and nutrition, and more. Please visit the fellowship website to learn more, and if you have any questions, please contact coordinator Lizi Fine or PI Wafaie Fawzi. The application deadline is October 1, 2024.
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Academic PositionsFacultyStaff PositionsInternships and Internal Student Positions
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