Global Health Updates
Feature Article: The "Last Summer" ― Investigating Infant Pneumonia in Botswana, Africa
Pandora Chua, medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, shares her summer 2012 experience investigating infant pneumonia in Botswana, Africa. Read her account.
Congratulations to our partners in Botswana!
The University of Botswana Pediatric Residency Program has received accreditation by the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. Congratulations to Drs Shiang-Ju Kung (Academic Head of Pediatrics), Dr Loeto Mazhani (Head of Pediatrics at Princess Marina Hospital) and their team on achieving this important step!
Job Opening — University of Botswana Department of Pediatrics
The University of Botswana (UB) is searching for a pediatric faculty member to join their Department of Pediatrics in Gaborone, Botswana. The successful candidate will teach undergraduates and graduate students, conduct research and provide clinical care in affiliated hospitals.
UB is the largest and most prestigious institution of higher learning in the country. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has partnered with UB since 2008, providing opportunities for clinical and research exchanges between the two institutions.
Please contact Dr Shiang-Ju Kung or Dr Loeto Mazhani for further details.
Afya Bora Consortium Fellowship update
The Afya Bora Consortium Fellowship in Global Health is currently accepting applications on a rolling basis for U.S. trainees. The Fellowship works to fill the identified gap in training for African and U.S. health professionals working in global health.
Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim is Obama nominee for World Bank
President Obama is nominating Jim Yong Kim, a physician who has been president of Dartmouth College for three years, to head the World Bank, the White House said. The nomination of Dr. Kim, who helped found Partners in Health and directed the World Health Organization’s department of HIV/AIDS, would recognize the importance of health issues in global development.
Crisis in the Horn of Africa
The most severe drought in over 60 years has resulted in a humanitarian crisis in the Eastern Horn of Africa. A combination of insufficient rainfall, water shortages, mass livestock deaths and a lack of humanitarian access to the affected population has left more than 13 million people in need of emergency assistance as they face the real risk of starvation. Many of the most vulnerable are children. In fact, an estimated 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died in the last three months, and countless more are suffering from acute malnutrition. The United Nations recently declared famine in five regions of southern Somalia, and warn that the situation will only continue to spread unless there is a massive increase in humanitarian aid.
The UN has certain requirements to declare a famine:
- More than 30 percent of children must be suffering from acute malnutrition.
- Two adults or four children must be dying of hunger each day for every group of 10,000 people
- The population must have access to far below 2,100 kilocalories of food per day.
More information:
- View a list of active NGOs in the Horn of Africa working to support the people affected by the drought and famine.
- Learn more about the situation in the Horn of Africa from these organizations:
Global Health featured in CHOP's Vaccine Education Center newsletter
"Childhood Vaccine Coverage in Botswana, Africa" is the featured article in the February 2012 issue of the Vaccine Education Center Parents PACK newsletter.
Global Health faculty member is new secretary of Lung Health Scientific Section
Dr. Andrew Steinhoff, a CHOP Global Health faculty member, has been elected as the new Secretary of the Lung Health Scientific Section by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).
Global Health featured in CHOP's “Children’s Doctor” newsletter
Global Health was recently featured in the Fall/Winter 2010 Children’s Doctor newsletter. You can see prior editions of the newsletter in our archive.
Contact Us
Call an International Care Coordinator:
- 001-267-426-6298
- Fax: 001-267-426-4991
- Appointments and Questions
- Refer a Patient