November 30, 2007

Center for Global Health brings thought leaders to the MGH

This November, the Global Health Seminar Series hosted by the MGH Center for Global Health (CGH) brought Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, and Kevin Bales, PhD, two leaders in the field of human rights, to speak at the hospital. As founders of international nonprofit organizations that address healthcare and status inequities, they highlighted the roles individuals and academic institutions can play in promoting healthcare quality and access in an increasingly interconnected — and increasingly unequal — global society.

Farmer, left, with CGH Director Thomas F. Burke, MD

Farmer is a professor of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the founding director of Partners in Health, an organization dedicated to providing quality health care to underserved populations around the world. In his Nov. 1 talk, "Health, Human Rights and Social Justice," Farmer explained that one of his greatest concerns is equity of health care access — currently, there are more than one billion people in the world who do not receive any form of health care. For Farmer, this startling disparity is an issue of human rights, and he argues that impoverished communities are as deserving of quality health care as those in affluent nations. He encouraged clinicians to donate their time and skills, advocating the incorporation of global health into clinical training. "We need to make global health more of a clinical passion and less of a hobby," he said.

In his Nov. 15 talk, "Global Implications of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery," Bales (right) spoke of the grim realities of life for the estimated 27 million people enslaved around the world today. Bales, president and co-founder of the organization Free the Slaves, offered a message of hope: "For the first time in the history of civilization," he said, "we have the eradication of slavery within our sights." Bales differentiated between several forms of slavery that exist today and encouraged individuals to reach out to elected officials to deal with this issue. "When all former slaves have economic autonomy, citizenship, dignity and personal agency," said Bales, "our job is done."

The CGH Global Health Seminars are designed to promote discussion about how MGH staff can be involved in the global response to disease, social inequality and disaster through healthcare delivery, research and education. The next CGH Global Health Seminar, a panel discussion on humanitarian emergencies, will take place in January. For more information, visit www.massgeneral.org/globalhealth.