#globemed

Today is the last day of Antibiotic Awareness Week, but there are plenty of ways to stay involved!

If you haven't already, ask your member of Congress to support the PASTEUR ACT: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1355

Check out the work of organizations like:

Pew Charitable Trusts: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/topics/antibiotics

Partners in Health: https://www.pih.org/

GlobeMed: https://www.globemed.org/

TB Fighters (yes it is that John Green): https://tbfighters.org/

06.18.2018

As soon as we walked into the bustling hospital room, La Tun broke out into a huge smile. La Tun is a 33 year old migrant from the outskirts of Shan state in Myanmar. He worked as a painter in Ayutthaya until he was accidentally electrocuted on the job in July of last year. The electric shock left him with multiple burns, no hands, and exposed bone on his shin that stops him from using his left leg.

Following the accident, La Tun traveled to Chiang Mai to be with his sister and get the medical treatment that he requires. His sister now cares for them both by working on a farm to plant and sell trees. Since July of 2017, La Tun has had to make frequent hospital visits that will continue until he is fully healed. Luckily, La’s former employer covered 75 percent of his hospital bills following the accident because the employer had a wife from Shan state.

06.23.2018

**the name of the migrant has been omitted for privacy purposes and out of safety concerns**

Two months ago, a migrant was in a horrible motorbike accident, causing his neck to break and leaving his lower body and hands paralyzed. The man had been admitted to the hospital for over a month, leaving on May 17th with over 60 thousand baht in medical bills and more to come. Upon returning to his home, the man found that his boss wants the family to move out of the complex because of his poor health condition, lack of payment, and loss of documents.

After leaving the hospital, the man’s wife had needed to cut down on how much she worked so she could take care of his medical needs which left them with very little income. With so little money coming in, the family struggles to pay rent, renew their immigration documents, and even get the migrant to the hospital for the checkups that he needs. MAP employees have been visiting the couple frequently to see where MAP can help. Having done a few outreaches with this family, MAP is now helping transport the man to the hospital and has talked to them about options to try to get money for food, medical supplies, treatments, and rent.

Rutgers GlobeMed is raising money to support healthcare and education in rural Ugandan communities through an ongoing crowdfunding campaign. Our end goal for May 2018 is to raise $7000 that will go towards the refurbishment of the newly renovated Health clinic in Migyera, Uganda and towards sponsoring children in Migyera to attend St. Lawrence’s Primary School. Construction for multiple wings of the health clinic has just finished this past summer, but the clinic is currently lacking the necessary equipment to deal with maternal health, particularly c-sections. We feel that quality maternal health is a fundamental requirement to build any sustainable community, and together, working with CALU, we hope we can help make affordable and high quality maternal health care a reality for the women in Migyera. Our mid-term goal, which we hope to achieve by the end of 2017, is the revenue necessary to sponsor at least 4 children to attend St. Lawrence’s primary school. It costs just $660 to sponsor a child for a year of primary school including room & board, food, and supplies and that’s a low price to pay for what can be a life-changing event for an entire family.

  This project builds off our pillars of microenterprise, education, and healthcare and enables us to make a life changing impact for the children of Migyera, Uganda. Being members of the world’s most affluent country, we believe it is our responsibility and civic duty to initiate a positive social impact on developing nations such as Uganda and help integrate their local communities with the rapidly industrializing global economy. When people are struggling to put food on the table or to send their children to get an education, we believe it is our duty as human beings to help no matter where they are. One of the founding pillars of both CALU and GlobeMed is that every child deserves to have an education, and through our work with CALU and the community in Migyera, we believe this goal can be achieved someday in Migyera. If we alleviate specific crises facing this local Ugandan community such as poverty and lack of education, we could potentially hinder further complications such as infant mortality, HIV/AIDS infection, and food insecurity. Even the smallest charitable contribution will be able to have a lasting impact and can change the life of a child who needs help.

As a supporter to this cause, the most effective way of contributing would be to donate. Any donation, regardless of how small, will have a significant impact upon this community. Apart from donating, there are multiple other ways you can help this cause. At GlobeMed, we believe spreading awareness is the best way to make people mindful of what is going on in the rest of the world and enforce the idea that they have the ability to help. Share it with your friends and family through email or social media, talk about it with colleagues, and just generate attention to a cause that really needs it. There is power in numbers and we here at GlobeMed - Rutgers University are reaching out to our community to help another across the world. The only way change can be made is if we take actions towards things we want to see improved.

Each GlobeMed chapter is partnered with a grassroots organization where they design projects to improve the health of the local community within that country. Our partner is the Art and Global Health Center of Africa Program (AGHCA) located in Malawi. AGHCA’s mission is to “foster creative leadership and implements innovative, arts-based, health oriented programs that inspire and mobilize. They have three projects:

Students with Dreams: This program empowers young dreamers to implement innovative projects in response to social challenges they see in their community. With their partnership with 2 colleges, it provides young leaders the outlet to realize their potential and take ownership for social change in Malawi.

Umunthu: The goal for this program is to build a more tolerant, empathetic society without marginalization and discrimination. The documentary Umunthu: An African Response to Homosexuality was directed by a Student with Dreams alum. AGHCA facilitated discussions with the audience on LGBTQ+ issues in Malawi following the screening.