Measels and Viruses

Hey guys,

So I was reading this article about a measles outbreak in Gibraltar. A point worth noting is that Gibraltar is a very crowded place, especially for Western Europe. This leads to the notion of epidemics, and how we're seeing outbreaks in particularly overpopulated regions. The SARS and Avian bird flu scares, though not epidemics, both began in China. These diseases are sometimes difficult to transmit, but are also highly virulent. Take for example this new arenavirus in Africa. We can't ignore the fact that as the world's population continues to grow, we will encounter not only new diseases but resistant forms of diseases that we believe to have been stamped out eons ago (take, for example, the TB epidemic in Russia).

But even more interesting is that in Gibraltar, part of a developed Western European nation, the vaccine inventories were rapidly depleted. Thomas Friedman's new book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded", focuses on the effects a world with 9 billion people (projected to occur in less than 20 years) will have in terms of the growing energy crisis. What is easy to lose sight of is the increased demand in medical resources that will occur with a 30% growth in the world's population. With that being said, I want to throw this out to you guys, there is constant attention to the oncoming 'green revolution' in response to an energy crisis. But as middle classes continue to rapidly increase in countries like India and China, the demand for more medical resources will only exponentially increase. When developed nations like Britain cannot meet citizens' medical demands, should we be focusing on a medical revolution, one that focuses on a more efficient production and allocation of resources? And, broadly speaking, how would you approach this problem?

Presentation at Pitt Medical School..

Hi Everyone!

The Project Malawi group from last year was asked by our faculty advisor at Pitt Med School, Dr. Thuy Bui, to present to her Community Health Forum about our work in Malawi. These are lunchtime talks run by the Global Health Interest Group with whom we are collaborating to bring Mara Banda to Pittsburgh. We will be presenting "The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Malawi: A New Look at Community-Based Organizations" this Monday Nov. 10 from 12-1pm in 1104 Scaife Conference Center (the 11th floor of Presby).

Sesi and I are planning on meeting this Saturday afternoon to work on the presentation, be in touch with either of us if you want to come out and help.

Thanks :)

Liz Van Loon

Canning this Sunday

Hi everyone,

I hope your week is going well. Just a few messages:

We will be canning at the Steeler's game this weekend. Here are the details:

Sunday, Nov. 9
12pm-2:30pm
Meet at Noon, at Fifth Avenue & Oakland Avenue (across the street from Children's Hospital)

Please come out and help us fund raise for Project Malawi. Go Steelers!

Sponsor Stalking

Hey gang,

so today probably wasent the best day to utilize campus breaks... i hope you all got out and voted!

I emailed the list of business assignments so I hope you have all tried to start getting in touch with the general body to see who has actually been contacted.

I am meeting up with Sesi with the same game plan friday at 1, so i will keep you posted as to our location if you can stop by.

This will be a good start. At the GBM tuesday I want to have people sign-up to continue this effort. If we can arrange a 2-3 day span and have members utilizing daytime business hours i think it will much more effective. This is tentative if we can have at least one eboarder present throughout the day, however i doubt this will be a problem.

That phonebook doesn't stand a chance.

Ndimakukonda,
Alicia

ps-that means i love you, or love for one another, in chichewa.

Phone Solicitation

Hey guys!

Tomorrow we will doing some phone solicitation in order to capture sponsors. I plan on arriving on campus @ 10 and finding a quiet spot where this can be executed. The location will be tentative. I have the eboards cell phones to relay this information, but if anyone else can come either leave your number as a comment or feel free to contact me at (215) 287-1686.

If you have a break come stop by anytime until 3:45.

I hope to see you all tomorrow!

Thanks for your time,
Alicia

Welcome to the SLIM Blog

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the SLIM Blog! This blog is intended to help SLIM members communicate with each other. EVERYONE in SLIM is encouraged to contribute. Whether you have an interesting article to share, an activity to suggest, or an event you think would interest SLIM members, you're welcome to post it on the blog.

Important information about SLIM's own activities and meetings will also be posted on the blog. This way everyone can stay up to speed.

We look forward to getting feedback from everyone. If you know anyone in SLIM who would like to be a member of the blog, tell them to email the SLIM account (slim.pitt@gmail.com) and they will be invited to join to blog.

Thanks everyone. Happy blogging!

Sesi Aliu
Secretary

Mara Banda

SLIM will be hosting a speaker from Malawi next month. The speaker, Mara Banda, is a director of Paradiso House Home-Based Care, one of the community-based organizations (CBOs) we work with in Malawi.

Ms. Banda is an amazing woman. After almost succumbing to AIDS, she was resuscitated with help from Ken Wong, a good friend of hers and the director of the Face to Face AIDS Project [http://www.facetofaceaids.org]. After being restored to health, Ms. Banda founded Paradiso. The organization began as a small support group for those with HIV/AIDS. It has since grown immensely, becoming one of the most well-known CBOs in Malawi.

Paradiso collaborates with a number of international groups and Ms. Banda has spoken at several international health conferences, including the 27th International AIDS Conference, held this past August in Mexico City.

SLIM and the Global Health Interest Group (GHIG) from the School of Medicine will be hosting Ms. Banda on Tuesday, Nov. 18 and Wednesday, Nov. 19. Mara's speaking engagements are also being co-sponsored by the Global Studies Department and will count as credit for the Outside the Classroom Curriculum (OCC).

We want to have a great turnout for the event, so we will be promoting heavily during the next few weeks. You can help out individually by telling your friends and classmates about the event.

Most professors are willing to let you pass out flyers for an event a few minutes before class begins, if you let them know in advance. This is a great way to get the word out. Let everyone know on the blog if/when you plan to promote the event in a particular classroom, so we know which classes have been covered. You can also put up flyers around campus and in your residence hall.

We will be flyering as a group during the next few weeks and will be tabling for the event soon. Look out for email reminders!

Here is a video of Mara Banda from the Face to Face AIDS Project website:
http://www.facetofaceaids.org/video/whereWeWork_video_02.html