HSPH Students Lead Health Reform Rally in Philly

 

Sybil Hyppolite a current HSPH student gets marchers fired up 

at Monday's Health Care Reform Rally in Philadelphia, PA

On Monday, November 10, a throng of marchers left from the 137th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association at the Philadelphia Convention Center and headed to CIGNA headquarters to promote keeping the public option in health care reform.

I had the opportunity to interview the organizers after the rally to hear how it went (it was over email). Below is our Q&A. If you'd like to view some of the rally videos, you can visit YouTube.

Q. Who organized the rally? 

A. Public Health Practitioners for Reform, a group of students at HSPH who were inspired and challenged by Marshall Ganz when he came to speak at an event here at school. We believe in health care for all and we support the public option as a first step to improving access. Key organizers included Aaron Holman, MS2 HPM, Sybill Hyppolite, MS2 SHDH, Michelle Lugalia, MS2 SHDH, Lindsay Schubiner, MS2 SHDH, Mark Brewster MS2 SHDH, and Tim Cunningham ScD SHDH, among many others. We received invaluable support from organizations such as the Health Policy Forum at HSPH, Health Care for America NOW! (HCAN), American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees (AFCSME), and several members of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Q. Why did you think this was important to do now, at APHA? 

A. Public health practitioners have an enormous stake in guaranteeing access to health care for as many people as possible, and we occupy a unique position as experts in the field.  It is essential that we make our voices heard at this crucial moment in the legislative process.  For the first time in 60 years, legislation around health care reform in Congress has progressed further than before. The level of cooperation between our legislators around this issue is also unprecedented. We are witnessing history in the making and we want our voices and our demands to count. As public health students, our voices have been missing from the debate and we felt we could not passively watch this moment pass by. We felt the need to step up and get involved.  We chose to organize the demonstration at the APHA Annual Meeting because of its nation-wide membership and its timing, as well as its symbolic relevance to the debate.

Q. How did the event go?   

A. It went very well!  Some of us have not been this intimately involved in organizing and so we were learning as we were planning.  We wanted to engage APHA members as much as possible, to get attention from the press, and we wanted it to be a meaningful experience for all the marchers. We met all of our expectations! We attracted two media sources, engaged respected members of APHA, had close to 100 people join us, and recruited great and diverse speakers to address the crowd. The group was energized during the event and several attendees thanked us for organizing the effort.

Q. What are you planning to do next?  

A. PHPR is determined to stay active in this issue. We are planning our next steps in light of the status of the bill and the President's desired deadline: Christmas 2009. Important aspects of the House bill, for example concerning reproductive rights, were cut from the version that passed, and even if the current bill makes it through the Senate without further cuts, it still fails to guarantee health care coverage for all.  We already know that this bill, as it stands, leaves us short of where we need to be.  Follow us on Facebook to get involved in our future activities. We want health care for all and we want it now!

APHA 2009 -- Water, Water Everywhere...

I am joined by many HSPH students, faculty, and staff at the 137th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

There are lots of exciting social media tools being used by public health organizations and attendees at this year's annual meeting (you can follow what's happening at #apha09 on Twitter).

Additionally, a group of HSPH students who formed a group, Public Health Practioners for Reform, will be marching to CIGNA headquarters tomorrow (Monday, November 9th) at 4pm. So, if you are in Philadelphia and want to advocate for a public option you can get the details at the Organizing for American website by clicking here.

So if you can't make it, you can still find out what's being talked about. And if you're interested in getting more of a student's perspective on this year's Conference, check out my blog posts at Veritas Health or follow my Twitter feed @veritashealth.

Thoughts on Health Care Reform

As boxes and arrows and words scribbled in chalk rapidly took over the board, I was once again struck by the same uneasiness I had been feeling for a while whenever the topic of health care reform came up: will we be changing anything at all?

We were drawing a diagnostic tree in class, pinpointing potential causes behind the discrepancy in what the U.S. pays per capita and our health outcomes. Words were scrawled hastily across the board as we brainstormed – lack of fee for service, fragmented financing, lack of access. I want these words to be huge, bright, flashing neon signs in the face of U.S. citizens. But they are getting buried – buried in rhetoric, in scare tactics, in sensational statements instead of an articulation of the facts.

The fundamental misalignment of incentives at every stage of the healthcare system – specialists being paid far more than general physicians, physicians being paid for quantity instead of quality, patients not seeing the true costs of procedures and medications due to insurance coverage – is not what the health care debate seems to be about. The absurdity of inequalities in health – by socioeconomic status and by race, among other things – is not what the health care debate seems to be about. The structural, environmental, and societal factors that combine to make us unhealthy are not what the health care debate seems to be out.

Insuring everyone is important, but we must consider – what does having insurance mean? Having insurance doesn’t change the fact that some people can’t get out of their sprawling suburbs without a car. Having insurance doesn’t change the fact that some neighborhoods are incredibly unsafe. Having insurance doesn’t change the fact that some people’s nearest hospital is miles and miles away, understaffed, and underfunded.

While I am incredibly, incredibly grateful to all those who are working to change our system for the better – including so many here at our school, as well as President Obama and his administration – if the health care debate thus far is indication of what the health care bill that eventually passes will look like…I have to wonder, will we be changing anything at all?

[Disclaimer: I am not as pessimistic as all that makes me sound – I firmly believe that public health can improve things, and I do think health care reform will change some things (and that having health insurance changes some things!), just not enough things or to an adequate extent. And I’m not at all arguing against taking quick action on health care reform. Best case scenario – the voices of public health experts and others get heard, and we get a bill that, though far from perfect, actually addresses some fundamental problems and affects some real change. Some of the bills under consideration now do address at least some fundamental issues, despite the lack of focus on these issues in the debate, and for that I am very grateful! Worst case scenario (assuming a bill passes) - a bill, any bill, would serve as a starting point – if we can change something about health care, it is no longer untouchable, and hopefully iterations in the future will bring us closer to the kind of health outcomes our country should have. ]

Vinu Ilakkuvan
ScM Candidate 2010
Society, Human Development, and Health

Comments?

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

So, what is YOUR opinion?

Rallying for Health Care Reform

My apologies for such a late post; however, given the increasing momentum for health care reform in the news and media I feel it is still timely and appropriate. It's great to see the HSPH community getting involved with health care reform and rallying around this important cause! Below is a post from a fellow student, and first time blogger, Alana Wooley:

September 11, 2009
An estimated one thousand people came out to the Boston Commons on Labor Day for a health care reform rally hosted by Organizing for America, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and other labor unions and health care reform advocacy groups.  Speakers included Massachusetts politicians (several of whom may be vying for the late Senator Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat), Boston politicians, labor union leaders, physicians, and community members personally affected by a lack of or inadequate health insurance coverage.

Many attended the rally bearing homemade signs iterating the urgency of health care reform.  Some signs read: “Help make America as healthy as insurance profits,” “The health of the people is the highest law of the land,” “Public option means affordable health care,”  “Health care is a human right!”  In addition, signs and speeches called for health care reform honoring the late Senator Kennedy’s cause.

Rally participants ranged in age, race/ethnicity, physical ability, and social class – chanting at times in favor of health care reform and applauding politicians who articulated their support of a public insurance option.  Representative Stephen Lynch, who supports health care reform, but does not support the public option, received loud boos from rally participants, often drowning out his speech.  Chants that circulated among rally participants included “What do we want? – “Health Reform” – “When do we want it?” – “Now!” and “Public Option! Public Option!”

In addition to showing support for health care reform, rallies such as this one also sought to visibly demonstrate the number of people who support healthcare reform, with the intention of eclipsing the famed town hall objections that have often been featured in the media.

Alana Wooley
ScM Candidate, 2010
Society, Human Development, and Health
Harvard School of Public Health
awooley@hsph.harvard.edu 

Sights of Kenya

Here are some of the pictures I took during my internship with Aga Khan Foundation Community Health Department in Mombasa, Kenya. Some pictures from Nairobi are included as well.

In addition to my work at the health department, I often visited an orphanage for children below the age of two years-- just in case you are wondering who those adorable kids are.

Enjoy!

Bolanle Bukoye
ScM Candidate, 2010
Global Health & Population
Harvard School of Public Health
bolanlebukoye@gmail.com

The Journey so Far!

A year ago I was getting ready to leave my job in the trauma center where I had spent the last seven months as a medical officer sewing up people who had sustained wounds from assault or road traffic accidents and resuscitating people who were unfortunate to be victims caught up in the crossfire between rival militant gangs or armed robbers in one of the states in the Niger Delta. I was embarking on a new phase of life. It was a relief to leave the streets of the Niger Delta for the more peaceful streets of the Federal Capital territory. It was one major reason I was leaving but the other was to change my focus and steer me away from other distractions to proceed along the path of Public Health. I had spent one year of the compulsory youth service in the Northern Part of my country and had gone on medical outreaches were I was the only health worker seeing close to two hundred patients over a two day span. This was when I began to realize that my love for surgery would take back seat to a public health pursuit.

My new job had the rather long and clumsy to explain title of Emergency Preparedness Doctor. I was to be responsible for monitoring outbreaks in the North Eastern Part of the country acting as a liaison between the local Health authorities in the different states and my organization and carrying out exploratory missions when there were cases reported (I worked for the French Section of Medecins Sans Frontieres).

When I first saw the job advertisement it had on it a caveat- Traveling 60% of the job, do not apply if not willing to travel, for me it was not a deterrent but a welcome home sign for one thing I do love is to travel! (Don't ask me where I have been, for many of the places I have traveled to are on the pages of books and my mode of transportation is my mind:)



Thus I started my trips round the North Eastern part of the country, many of the states were places I had been to when I was five for my parents took my twin and I on a trip round Nigeria and they form my early memories. But this was a whole new world for me for I now had the capacity to form more tangible memories.

My first job was as a doctor in a post measles malnutrition center, I had been employed at the end of a measles outbreak so I was sent to the field to see how a malnutrition center was being run, then I made some trips to some other states to monitor reported cases of cholera and then this year I spent most of my time working during the big meningitis outbreak. My last job before I left was to conduct a Nutritional Survey with my colleagues. All these activities took place in different states and most times I was on the road for long periods of time. It was fun to work and travel at the same time and I usually took pictures of the scenes along the way.


It was fun while it lasted and I am at the school of Public Health hoping that the journey will be even more fruitful than my past experiences. Looking forward to having a lovely time with everyone.



Olaoluwatomi Kehinde Lamikanra

MPH Candidate, 2010
Health Policy & Management
olamikan@hsph.harvard.edu

[The faces behind the numbers...]

Scenes around Mission Hill taken by A. A. Babar

Every time I see someone digging through our trash, I am struck with a mixture of shame, awkwardness, empathy, and perplexity. A mixture dissolved in irony.

There are homeless people all over the world—people whose survival is a daily struggle, people who do not have food nor water, people whose lives are vulnerable to all sorts of physical and mental harm. But here, in Roxbury—just a hop, skip, and a jump from some of the world’s greatest educational institutions, hospitals, developments—it seems to be such a contradiction to witness such immediate poverty in the midst of such wealth.

I witnessed this semi-collision of worlds a few days ago, when dignitaries—namely the Presidents of the United States—sat together to commemorate the legacy left by Ted Kennedy in the Basilica just a few blocks down. Although I have lived in Roxbury for only a year, I was struck for one of the first times with a certain sense of pride to be a part of a community where something seemingly quick and powerful happened within such diversity. Diversity of power, skin-shades, wealth, and experience.

It reminds me why I’m here in the first place, burying my head in numbers, formulas, words I can not/nor care to pronounce. I guess you could say that I am one of those “social epi” people out to “bridge the gaps”. While the books guilt-trip me into reading just one more page, I am obligated to also take my head out of the sand, and to open my eyes to see the life that is happening all around me.

To ignore the faces behind these numbers drowning in statistical vacuums would be fatal. We owe it to those who have fought before us--some silently, some loudly--proclaiming the need to address the disparities between rich and poor. Between black and white. And between the powerful and powerless.

Amenah A. Babar, MPH
SD Student
Society, Human Development, and Health
Co-Editor in Chief

HSPH Students Attend Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform

On Wednesday night, a group of 15 Harvard School of Public Health students crossed the river to be among the estimated 3,000 audience members at Senator John Kerry's Town Hall meeting in Somerville, MA. The atmosphere at the town hall stayed respectful for most of evening as Senator Kerry made his case for health care reform.

In his first public appearance since Senator Kennedy's funeral on August 29th, Senator Kerry spoke of how the two shared many ideals and fought to win the same battles. However, he expressed hesitation that the public health insurance option, a signature piece of the HELP committee's bill in the Senate and Senator Kennedy's final reform push, was politically feasible. 

As a physician, I have been keenly following the debate over health care reform for many months, and I was disappointed by the defeatist tone Senator Kerry used when discussing the public option. Nonetheless, Senator Kerry expressed to the largely sympathetic crowd that he believes meaningful health care reform will be passed in 2009. 

Paul Kokorowski (MPH-CLE, '10) said, "After hearing Senator Kerry speak, I am confident that a reform bill will pass. However, I am concerned that costs may not go down or that all Americans won't be covered."

Sylvia Thompson

MPH Candidate, 2010

Global Health & Population

Harvard School of Public Health

sthompso@hsph.harvard.edu

Welcome Back!

Classes began today for Harvard students from Longwood to Cambridge. While many students, including me, are still figuring out what courses to take for the next 8-16 weeks, I sense a lot of energy and excitement brewing around campus. This is a historic moment for those of us in public health. I am reminded of this constantly by the announcements in the daily Student News about town hall meeting road trips and rallys to discuss health care reform, as well as the frequent headline stories of the Boston Globe and New York Times.

I am certain that health reform will be a topic in many of our classes (whether taken here or at the Kennedy School), and I hope that this blog can inspire and be a forum for student-led discussion.

There lots of new faces at HSPH who will likely contribute great ideas, experiences, and lessons to the classroom discussions here at school. I hope that this blog can be a forum that expands the classroom beyond Kresge and FXB and makes them available for a wider audience of people interested in public health at Harvard.

So I pose this question to you (whomever you are...)

What are you looking forward to this year (or semester) at HSPH?

Emotions and Cancer

The want to be immortal,

My fate is not certain.

The desire for the "Forever",

My end is not near.

The aspiration to multiply,

I spread my spy.

The ambition to last,

Makes me the outcast.

The dream to reach,

Has left me no peace.

The hope to win,

Not sparing my kin,

Leaves me remorse.

I am the crooked,

I am the wicked,

I am - the cancer cell!

This is a self written verse, describes the complexities of emotions and the plethora of illness that can be caused when we either neglect our emotional needs, suppress it or over express it! Phew!!The world goes around and around emotions...Love, dating, breakups, marriages, children, friends, family, job, fun, sex, friends, heartbreaks, betrayals, dejection,etc are very very powerful emotions or situations which we come across on a daily basis. The emotions create experiences which shape our personalities. I would like to research what are the impact of the so called negative emotions on cell cycle, aging, mitosis,etc. I believe that cancer in a form of manifestation of negative energy or any kind of resentment that we have in us. It could be a failed marriage, unhappy family, bad parenting, break ups, annoying people, I hate my job and so on and so forth. The idea of preventive medicine is to detect any cause which can measure conditions which predispose a disease. I want to find tools, methods or systems to map out emotional intelligence, emotional make up and emotional personality of a person and relate it to types of diseases that they suffer. For example, angry people have high blood pressure. Now no doctor will ever write Rx anger management. It is essential from public health practitioners point of view that we view certain varieties of cancer as built on repressed emotions and seriously start directing programs and research in that aspect!

Geriatric Health

This blog is about my experiences of working as a Community/Preventive medicine intern at Seth G.S. Medical and K.E.M. Hospital. Three times a week we have a geriatric OPD at Naigaon which is an area adjacent to the hospital. The idea is to give care to old age patients in the outpatient department.

When I entered that room on my first day, I was shocked. Cobwebs, broken tube lights,non working fans, dusty tables, rocking chairs,rusty window panes, foul smelling air and so on. But what shocked me even more was the queue of people waiting outside the room for medications for chronic conditions like blood pressure, diabetes, backache, etc. As I entered the room, their brows lit up in anticipation that they shall be "cured" of their illness while others were just happy that they shall receive their free quota of medications.

In a narrow span of 1 hour, a team of 4 doctors quickly rushed over 20 patients!!!! Overwhelming, isn't it? Now you may wonder how did you see all those patients so quickly? The answer is the sad system of prescribing medicines and quickly writing a prescription of tablets and pushing it down the gullet of the old age patients.

Regardless to say we obviously didn't care for the failing kidneys or deteriorating depression because we are doctors who are very busy. But my question is, Can we substitute heath with pills? Can we bring back the mental peace in the minds of depressed by antidepressants? Can we control the blood pressure and the failing hearts by popping up losartan? Is it ethical? Or listening to a patients is just too much what they are asking for?

The answer is simple.

As physicians we commit to serve our patients and devote ourselves to the fullest to save lives and protect life. If we can achieve our goals just by talking or listening to patients instead of intoxicating them with unnecessary medications and tests, we are truly dedicating ourselves to the service of mankind. We have unfortunately befriended the pharmaceutical industry to such an extent that now patient care is replaced by pills and prescriptions, healing is replaced by treating, caring is replaced by curing. In true sense of it, if we all physicians lend an ear to our patients, address their problems as emotional symptoms rather than physical entities, we can reduce the number of visits at the same time increase the compliance.

The lady in this picture is facing her back reminding me of how we choose to face back at real problems and prefer to label them with fancy medical terms!

On My Way to Work...

I step out of the house and walk towards the main road to board my morning matatu (local public transporation in Kenya). I am prepared for work but unprepared for the unavoidable road sightings that await me. My heart often skips a beat or two as I stare out the matatu window in anticipation of what I am about to witness yet again.

I watch as men and women of all ages head towards their destination. The most fortunate are driving or been driven in their air conditioned automobiles, the more fortunate silently utter prayers of safety on the rickety public transportation while the least fortunate line the sidewalks trekking (barefoot in some cases) to their destination. I pay the most attention to those people on the sidewalks. I watch them closely, trying hard to study their faces and I wonder about the source of their strength; the how’s and why’s they wake up every morning to continue their journeys on these side walks. For some people I see a determination with every step, with the hope of a better tomorrow. Others cannot hide a lost hope; they seem to have walked too far to turn around and without much strength to walk any further but knowing fully well that they cannot remain still. There are those who remain still of course and just seat on the sidewalks begging for alms; handicapped or not.

I continue to wonder about these people, about their situation and that of generations to come. The condition reinforces a harsh fact about life which can be summed up in one word, “unfair.” Growing up in Nigeria, I would hear the elderly remark that, "fingers are not equal" to emphasize this brutal fact of life. Although we cannot out-live life itself, we can outlive such principles of life. I believe that this is where we, as public health officials play a major role; to fight for the well-being of those people who suffer the unkind consequences of life’s unfairness. During my first year at the school of public health, I kept hearing the phrase “reduce inequity” almost everywhere from professors and students alike. And I hope that we will continue to work hard to translate this phrase into actions that can be felt by the unfortunate, not only in Kenya but across the globe.

Bolanle Bukoye

ScM Candidate, 2010

Global Health & Population

Harvard School of Public Health

bolanlebukoye@gmail.com

Fighting Sex Trafficking in Central America: A student's summer experience

Photo of me with the Viceminister of Governance and Police, Ana Durán
in her office in San Jose, Costa Rica

I am excited to write my first post for the HSPH eConnection blog. I am going into my second year of the ScM program in Society, Human Development, and Health and had the amazing opportunity to travel to Central America this summer to meet with organizations who are helping women and girls who have been sexually exploited or trafficked into sex work. The goal was to understand what data exists on the prevalence of this problem, the activities being done to combat it, and improve our understanding of the age and vulnerabilities of victims. The final product? A feasibility assessment to be submitted to the US Department of State, Global Trafficking in Persons Office. (This is just one exploratory aspect of a larger multi-regional study into sex trafficking vulnerabilities around the globe).

I began my 4-week journey at a small non-profit on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua, House of Hope (a.k.a. Casa Esperanza). It is a faith-based organization that houses families of women and children, as well as girls who have been involved with sex work. Some entered sex work voluntarily, others were coerced or forced by neighbors, strangers, even their own family. I wrote a few posts on my experience staying, living, and meeting the women and girls with incredible stories at House of Hope in my public health blog, Veritas Health. Check out my posts if you are interested in learning more about them.

House of Hope relies primarily on donations from churches and individuals to keep their programs running. They finance education for the children of women who live at and participate in House of Hope activities (including the weekly card-making), which includes buying uniforms and school supplies and paying monthly school fees. Health care is provided to women that reside at House of Hope. Additionally, throughout the year House of Hope has teams of people who come (mostly from the US) to provide counseling, do construction, and provided needed medical services (such as screening for infectious and chronic diseases).

The next few weeks were spent interviewing and visiting organizations that were working in the area of trafficking and/or sexual exploitation of women and girls. I was able to speak with leaders at the International Organization for Migration in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the Viceminister of Governance and Police of Costa Rica, US Embassy officials, as well as directors of other non-profits of varying sizes, including Grethel Lopez M. at Casa Alianza in Managua and Mariliana Morales Berries founder of Fundación Rahab in San Jose.

What amazed me most about my trip was the bright, joyful spirit of many of the girls and women that I met. Nearly all of them had been through severe trauma (physical abuse, incest, rape) and been brought up in such difficult circumstances, yet they show signs of hope in their future. The education and vocational training aspects of the organizations, and also the spiritual and emotional healing, seemed to inspire this positive perspective. This is not to say there weren't many difficulties for the organizations working with these women and girls -- it is not easy to build trust, when trust has been broken over and over, and to provide a sense of security, when violence and violation have been a fact of life.

The experience also taught me about self-determination and tested my courage. I was nervous that my Spanish (which I hadn't spoken in about 2 years) would not be sufficient for meeting with these high-level executives who, for the most part, spoke little or no English. I also was concerned that I would have trouble getting people to sit down and speak with me. Thankfully, my supervisor (SHDH Professor Jay Silverman) gave me some great advice and helped me prepare for my trip. Nonetheless I had to dot the i's and cross the t's myself. It took some time to muster up the courage to cold call the organizations from my lodging in Managua and San Jose. But each time I did, I was reassured -- meeting after meeting was scheduled, without fail.

I returned at the end of June, excited to share all that I had learned and experienced with the rest of my team (this project is part of Jay Silverman's work on sex trafficking with the US DOS) and family. My time at House of Hope will make its way into my presentation on sex trafficking, violence victimization, and condom use at the APHA Anual Meeting this November. Notes and data that I collected will be shared with the US DOS in a feasibility assessment that I have already begun. Finally, I will be developing an Access database for one of the NGOs I met with in San Jose in order to transition them from paper records to a digital database.

There is so much more I could write about, but this will have to do for now. If you have questions or want to know more about my experience feel free to contact me at email address below.

Also, if you would like to write about your summer practicum or employment let us know!

Katelyn Mack
ScM Candidate
Society, Human Development, and Health
Co-Editor in Chief, The Public Health eConnection
kmack@hsph.harvard.edu

Greetings!

Greetings from Aamchi Mumbai!
My name is Dr. Namrata Bagaria. I have graduated from med school in February this year. This blog is a little introduction about me and about what I am doing this summer.

Summers in the USA are essentially monsoon time in Mumbai. It rains and pours. A typical Mumbaite like me goes for a walk at Marine Drive and enjoys long conversations by the sea side with friends. Add to that some hot coffee and getting drenched by the waves. The monsoons also bring a sentiment of irritation because of traffic jams and potholes. This summer I mainly spent my time brushing up my writing skills. I also took a trip to New Delhi, the Capital of India to meet my extended family and friends and to wish them a adieu before I leave for the US of A for my higher studies.

A little about me-
At HSPH I will be pursuing an MPH in Family and Community Health. I will be taking electives in Women's Health and I look forward to completing the Women, Gender and Health and the Maternal and Child Health certificates. I intend to continue at HSPH for a DPH in SHDH with a major in WGH and a minor in MCH.

Namrata Bagaria
MPH Student
Family and Community Health

[letter from the editor]

Greetings HSPH Community!

In 2004, a college friend invited me to become one of the first Carls to join the small facebook community thriving online. Five years later, the world and your Mother are on facebook—a virtual society that boasts of more than 250 million people. And now, in this same digital world, we can even follow Presidential thoughts by the minute through twitter, and are loaded with more online news than you could shake a DAG at. Oh, and let’s not forget good ol’ youtube—watching your favorite comedian at two in the morning could not be made easier. Regardless of where you are on the planet, the internet is simply changing the way we communicate, socialize, see, hear, and think.

It’s literally the world at your fingertips.

As I was reflecting on my first year here at HSPH, amid the hustle and bustle of graduate life, I had the suspicious feeling that something was glaringly missing in my experience. From discussions with my fellow classmates and friends, we came to realize that we were missing that good old fashion debate outside of class on whether Obama’s health care plan would really fly, or that conversation on what people think really went down during the Gates-Crowley exchange. We were missing the chance to share our experiences as students hopping across the globe—learning about health, promoting health, and living health. We were missing that critical dialogue with people outside of our inner circle—with whom we eat lunch and dinner with everyday, compare SAS code with for the same course, and with whom we share the same political views. So, I thought, why not take it to this so-called free “world at your fingertips?”

Hence, the eConnections blog was birthed. The Student Advisory Committee for the Health Communications Concentration (SAC-HCC) has developed this space to provide you—members of the HSPH community—a platform to voice perspectives on public health topics, experiences at HSPH, internships, opinions on public health news events and policy, and to creatively use media (through video, podcasts, photos, music, and digital art) to promote health. We believe promoting health communication is critical to progress in the health arena, and we believe this virtual exchange will be an essential part of the HSPH experience.

So here it is. Your spot in the digital world to voice your opinions. To be real. Honest. And upfront. With friends, allies, opponents, and strangers. If not now, when?

Amenah A. Babar, MPH

SD Student

Society, Human Development, and Health

Co-Editor in Chief

[boston eyes]