World Humanitarian Day

Today we celebrate people helping people. Here's to numerous friends and colleagues that  have the gift to help people and have accomplished (and continue to accomplish) amazing work throughout the world! May we all have big enough hearts to find a way to change the world each day! 

"When a child is withering away it really does not matter whether the cause is drought, ignorance, or social injustice. It is a precious child that is dying. If we determine that any person is of less value because of where they were born, we have lost our humanity." 

-Dave Eller, president of World Concern

Pushing Elephants

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”  Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

I LOVE this quote...I mean absolutely love it! The first thing that instantly came to mind while reading it, was a documentary I saw last summer while I was at the Global Health Conference here in DC. It always blows my mind when I see/hear of someone overcome an unbearable past and then become an advocate for others, in a similar situation. I saw this documentary though and not one person walked out with a dry eye! Incredibly powerful! 

Premise of the movie:

In the late 1990s, Rose Mapendo lost her family and home to the violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo. She emerged advocating forgiveness and reconciliation. In a country where ethnic violence has created seemingly irreparable rifts among Tutsis, Hutus and other Congolese, this remarkable woman is a vital voice in her beleaguered nation’s search for peace. Now, Rose is confronted with teaching one her most recalcitrant students how to forgive—Nangabire, the daughter who remained behind.

When war came to Rose’s village, she was separated from her five-year-old daughter, Nangabire. Rose managed to escape with nine of her ten children and was eventually resettled in Phoenix, Arizona. Over a decade later, mother and daughter are reunited in the US where they must face the past and build a new future.

Rose struggles to find balance in her life as a mother of ten and a full-time advocate for refugees. She is the co-founder for Mapendo New Horizons, a humanitarian organization named in Rose’s honor that protects and cares for forgotten refugees. Her speaking engagements have her traveling around the world from the White House to the UNHCR in Geneva to peace talks in Goma, Congo.

Meanwhile Nangabire, now seventeen, must adapt to America and discover how she fits into the sprawling Mapendo family. As mother and daughter get to know one another, they must come to terms with a painful past, and define what it means to be a survivor, a woman, a refugee and an American.

Through this intimate family portrait unfolding against the wider drama of war, we will explore the long-term and often hidden effects of war on women and families, particularly those in traditional societies—financial despair, increased susceptibility to rape, and social ostracism. Pushing The Elephant will capture one of the most important stories of our age, a time when genocidal violence is challenged by the moral fortitude and grace of one woman’s mission for peace.

FGM

FGM.

There will be no heroes here
No gods, though the stench of sweat
And the drip of blood
Will hint at creation

How long
O flesh
O knife
O muffled screams
How long will you taint the air of our lands
With your echoes?

There will be no transgressions here
Only girls
Trapped forever at the cusp of womanhood
Sliced up and stitched back together
To cut the sins out and keep the virtue in

Where are the heroes
While our daughters are being circumcised
And I will judge, though
Circumstance gave birth to me in the audience and not onstage
Though I have never seen the tip of the knife
The eclipse of a neighbor’s face blocking the sun

But how long
O sky
O land
O grim-faced mothers
How long can you watch without seeing

The battered virgins decorated in tattered skins
Scabs and stitches to keep out the sins
When even a mother’s embrace is not tighter
Than the embroidery on her
Pretty
Pure
Painless daughter
When does this go too far?

There will be no heroes here
With their t-shirts and their picket signs
This will be no fashionable cause
Because these are the wars that lie hidden under skirts

No poverty pornography
Of big-eyed babies posing beneath their coating of flies
These are the scars of a society
That the documentary crews
Do not have the stomach for;
There are no gods here

Though every outsider’s view is judgement day
I’m going to judge today though I
Have no bruises on my thighs
No suspicious mother listening at the bathroom door
Because the volume of her daughter’s urine
Was testament to her innocence:
If she could only manage a quiet trickle
She was still stitched up tightly

And if she wasn’t,
If she wasn’t, o honor
O stones
O broken face
If she wasn’t, her father would find
The power to crush her life to liquid
Encased in a bruised sack of skin

The newscasters
Will call it an honor killing,
Disdain for “those people” crumpling their features
As the cameras pan with a zoologist’s fascination
Speaking as one would of another species
About those barbarians and their bloodlust

Or was it an act of love by father and brother
When stones smashed into tainted skin to
Release the soul from its dirtied casing
Gazing tearlessly at the husk of what was once their baby girl

Before her thighs were taught to mash so tightly together
That bruises bloomed on the insides
Before scarlet letters spilled monthly from a joyless womb
A loveless girl
Soaked crimson in her own sin
Punished preemptively for the hips and breasts
Soon to come
Of which her twelve-year-old frame already hints
For the way she will soon make monsters of men
Revenge will paint itself
As ritual
Carving the joy out of creation
Into a tradition of loveless wombs
Of mothers who find no pleasure
In the creation of their child

And so,
There will be no lovemaking
No making of children born from joyful unions
Only manufacturing
Of loveless generations
No creation
So, no-
There are no gods
Here
-Safia

This poetry was recited (and gave me chills) at an event I attended not long ago on refugee health. This touches a topic many know little about or  chose to ignore.

An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of female genital cutting, also called female circumcision. Female genital cutting includes several different forms of cutting practiced for hundreds of years. Infibulation, the most severe, involves cutting some or all of the external genitalia, leaving only a very small opening for urination and menstruation.

The procedure can also cause serious health and social problems that follow a woman her whole life. The health complications from infibulation can include chronic and severe pain, infection, prolonged and difficult labor and difficulties with menstruation. Psychologically, cutting can cause tension between couples due to painful or difficult sexual relations. Socially, cutting makes it harder for girls to go to school or earn income by making them more likely to marry early.

Every year, in communities around the world, as many as 3 million girls are at risk of this painful procedure despite its many risks. We must do all we can to encourage the governments in the communities where female genital cutting most often occurs to put a stop to it.

The practice of female genital cutting is hard to talk about. It is part of deeply-held religious and cultural beliefs in communities that practice it. But it also is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. But ignoring it only guarantees more suffering, and leadership from the United States would go a long way in urging the countries where FGC occurs to end this human rights abuse.

Haiti on my mind...

Haiti, mon pays
Wounded mother I'll never see
Ma famille set me free
Throw my ashes into the sea

Mes cousins jamais nes
Hantent les nuits de Duvalier
Rien n'arrete nos espirits
Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see

In the forest we are hiding
Unmarked graves where flowers grow
Hear the soldiers angry yelling
In the river we will go

Tous les morts-nes forment une armee
Soon we will reclaim the earth
All the tears and all the bodies
Bring about our second birth

Haiti, never free
N'aie pas peur de sonner l'alarme
Tes enfants sont partis
In those days their blood was still warm

(Translation:  Haiti, my country, wounded mother I'll never see. My family set me free. Throw my ashes into the sea. My cousins, never born, haunt the nights of Duvalier. Nothing stops our spirits. Guns can't kill what soldiers can' t see. In the forest we are hiding, unmarked graves where flowers grow. Hear the soldiers angry yelling, in the river we will go. All the still-born children form an army, soon we will reclaim the earth. All the tears and all the bodies bring about our second birth.Haiti, never free, don't be afraid to sound the alarm your children are gone in those days their blood was still warm.)

Jan 12, 2010 brought intense pain and sorrow to a country that I couldn't have imagined taking on any more suffering. The massive earthquake on that day brought Haiti to the surface of attention. A country that many people couldn't have placed on a map, people and a culture that aren't thought about on a daily basis, devastation that many can't even begin to comprehend, including those that were affected and appear to be so resilient...Haiti has been on my mind for years now, studying and working in public health. I have had many missed opportunities to visit this country, but hope at some point I will make my trip to Haiti. In the meantime, Haiti is on my mind. Especially lately though. Throughout November and December, I was back in Washington, D.C., working for my old boss at WHO/PAHO. For four weeks the only thing that was on my mind was cholera and Haiti. The devastation in this country just doesn't end and I don't think anyone can wrap their mind around the extent of pain and suffering. As I sat through all these meetings with top officials, including world-renowned Epidemiologists, Doctors, Politicians, etc, I have never felt so sad. Studying Haiti and all their problems, I have always had a glimpse of hope for their future. Sadly, I don't feel that right now...gut-wrenching image after image break my heart and make me lose my sense of hope that I try to maintain when I think of those that are there. I think of the pain and suffering that has been endured, throughout past generations and that will be endured for generations to come.

You take 2010 alone, this country has suffered one of the most devastating earthquakes our earth has seen (in the sense of impact on human beings), one that killed more than 300,000 humans and displaced around 1.5 million, most of which will never rebuild their homes or lives and will be in long term camps for internally displaced populations. This country has more recently faced extreme flooding during the 2010 hurricane season, specifically with Hurricane Tomas, which hit in November. This is a country that so gratefully had not been exposed to Cholera for more than 100 years, but within the last few months has been introduced to the bacteria, creating an outbreak that has devastated countless...numbers aren't even accurate at this point, as there is no effective surveillance system set in place.

Hasn’t this country suffered enough? Unfortunately not. The entire infrastructure is a disaster in Haiti, which means this country is far from seeing the end of its own misery. As long as there is a corrupt system in place...as long as there is no infrastructure...as long as people, particularly those in power, are only in it for themselves and not for the well-being of the Haitians...this country will continue to be a disaster. How do you fix a country that is so messed up? How do you solve all of the issues? There are SO many layers to even the most basic of issues. Mass education and a shift in politics, with a little top soil would do wonders for this country...but again, so many layers...where do you even begin to try and fix even those three problems?

Just thoughts on my mind...I wish I had the answers. I wish I could do more to help. I wish people that don't belong there would stay out and not use up the resources that are needed for those in need. Haiti is on my mind, especially today...the first anniversary of the earthquake.

My poor lungs...

This is what they have been suffering!

 Yes, INVERSION...gross! I came across this blog posting that very clearly explains inversion. I want to share because I think it is interesting and I think all to often people don't understand what inversion actually is, nor do they do their part to reduce the smog, by carpooling, taking public transit, or just reducing amount of daily driving.

Summarizing though...Normally during the day, the ground gets heated up by the sun. The hot ground warms up the air immediately above it, and that warmed air rises. But in winter, with snow on the ground and a low sun-angle, the ground is often colder than the air and acts to cool the air immediately above. The cool air is dense and so it doesn’t rise; it sinks, hugging the floor of the valley. When the weather is “nice”, with clear skies and high pressure, warmer air in the sky above, the warmer air sits on top of the cold air, which can’t rise, holding it in place in the valley below. During an inversion, freezing water vapor from a water source- such as snow- is produced by evaporation. The water vapor can’t rise up to dissipate or form clouds or whatever, and instead and fills the cold-air layer with a chilly mist. The damp air serves to amplify the chill, especially for us Westerners, who are accustomed to a ”dry cold.”

 The trapped compounds are known as secondary pollutants...they’re not the stuff that comes directly out of your tailpipe, but rather the result of the sunlight-fueled reactions between the tailpipe emissions and other stuff in the atmosphere.There are other sources of pollutants that contribute to bad air conditions during inversions, but cars account for the lion’s share by far. The air quality effects are exacerbated by thin air, which is a by-product of altitude. This is why 8,000-foot high Mexico City suffers so terribly from inversion-produced smog. At 4,300 feet, the altitude is also a factor in Salt Lake’s inversions.

All I have to say is gross, GROSS, GROSS! I realize inversion is normal, but it is still so gross. I literally couldn't see our beautiful mountains majority of the week. 

Check out this cool interactive website to see how pollutants affect our lungs: http://www.airquality.utah.gov/clean_air/archive/SWF/lung_control.swf

ON THAT NOTE...

I will gladly be escaping this muck, come Thursday! I am planning to take advantage of my flight benefits, a long weekend, and a dear cousin, who currently lives in MAUI. I recruited a friend from San Francisco that I rarely get to see and we are going to head to Maui for five days to bum around on the beach. I can hardly wait to get away from the cold and gross air!

World AIDS Day 2010

As many of you may know, Dec 1 (today) marks World AIDS Day. Two decades ago this was a mysterious disease that we knew very little about. Over time, AIDS has become a disease that is widely spread and has a tremendous amount of research being done on it. There are many misconceptions about HIV/AIDS and all aspects of the epidemic. As an HIV instructor and educator, I find it very important to break down the stigma and be as open as possible when talking about this sensitive topic. I find many it is a difficult topic to address, given the taboo of talking about sex and the activities related, but one that is extremely important to address. 

I have taken a little excerpt from a site I came across that gives some great basic information. It is always best to be informed with the correct information. The following questions were answered by Dr Elaine Leader, who is in private practice in Los Angeles after extensive work at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Teen-Line, a youth hotline where teenagers can call anonymously to talk about the problems facing their lives, from family situations to sexual questions. She is a true wealth of knowledge on the many issues facing teenagers and young adults in today’s world, AIDS just being one of them, but one that is incredibly important to understand, so that everyone can protect themselves.

What exactly is AIDS?

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a viral syndrome where the immune system fails, and leads to many life-threatening infections.

How is AIDS contracted?

The majority of HIV infections are a result of unprotected sex – oral, vaginal or anal or through shared needles or contact with infected blood.

What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a retrovirus that causes AIDS. It may not lead to AIDS, particularly when treatment is instituted early and consistently whereas AIDS is when the HIV has invaded the system to the point where it fails to fight off life-threatening infections.

Can you get AIDS from sharing a drink with someone that has AIDS?

No.

Can you get AIDS from giving or receiving oral sex?

Yes. You can get AIDS from any form of sex which produces an exchange of bodily fluids. Prior to people’s misconceptions, oral and anal sex are, in fact, sex.

Does a condom protect against AIDS?

It is best to use a condom and spermicide every time you have any kind of sexual activity.  Knowing how to use them properly will decrease the chance of condoms leaking or tearing. However, there can always be accidents, nothing is 100% effective, other than abstinence.

Does birth control protect against AIDS?

The Pill, Foam, Vaginal suppositories, the Patch, the Vaginal Ring, Intrauterine devices or birth control injections DO NOT protect against AIDS. Only abstinence or safe sex practices mentioned above can protect against contracting HIV through sexual activity.  It is still possible to contract it through blood contacts that are contaminated with the virus, e.g. needle sharing.

What can you do to prevent getting HIV?

Of course abstinence or practicing safe sex. Also, do not share needles.

Is there a cure for AIDS? Can it be treated?

To date there is no cure for AIDS per se. However, there is treatment particularly if it is begun before a life-threatening infection has taken hold. It is very important to follow the regime rigorously that is prescribed by doctors who specialize in HIV treatment.

What about PEP, the vaccine for those that have been infected with AIDS within the previous 72 hours?

Studies of PEP have demonstrated the greatest reduction in HIV transmission when antiretroviral medications are administered immediately after exposure to HIV-infected blood and body fluids. The efficiency of PEP is diminished after 36 hours and is minimal after 72 hours.

How can you tell if you have been infected with HIV?

You need to get tested as soon as possible after suspected contact, but wait at least 3 months after contact, to allow your body to build up enough antibodies for the test to detect. Please visit http://www.aidsinfoutah.net/ for testing locations near you.

Are there other ways that you can get HIV/AIDS, other than through sex?

Yes, through sharing needles (i.e. IV drug usage) as there is likelihood of blood exchange from someone who is infected. Many people were infected through blood transfusions prior to screening of blood donors. AIDS is transmitted again, through an exchange of bodily fluids, blood being one of them.

Is AIDS only in the homosexual community?

No. In fact, in recent years there has been a great increase in the heterosexual community and in adolescents. In Africa, it is primarily a heterosexual disease. It can also be transferred to newborns from pregnant women who are HIV positive.

If you find out you have HIV/AIDS, what are your options? What can you do? Do you have to tell anyone?

After being tested and a positive diagnosis is confirmed, as with any STD it is important to inform anyone with whom you have had sexual contact. It is extremely important to seek treatment with a knowledgeable physician as soon as possible to discuss your options. Also, take care of your body and basic health.

How can you tell if your sexual partner has HIV or AIDS?

You can’t tell by just looking at someone. You need to ask if they have had a recent test.

Are there places where you and your partner can go to get tested together, where your parents won’t find out?

Yes. Visit http://www.aidsinfoutah.net/ for testing sites near you (in Utah) and for sites that are anonymous. All testing sites are confidential and will test anyone over the age of 14, without parental consent.

Do you have to tell your parents if you find out you have HIV or AIDS?

Of course it is always best to have parents help with any kind of medical issue. However, be guided by whether you believe they will be supportive and helpful. If you fear they might be punitive or kick you out of the house, please get help from a trusted adult. You do not have to tell them.

Will people be able to tell if you have HIV or AIDS?

Not unless you are in the advanced stage of AIDS in which case people would know you are ill but perhaps not the cause.

How long can somebody live with HIV/AIDS?

This depends on the treatment received.

Does everyone that has HIV/AIDS die from it?

The mortality rate was very high for AIDS up until the past few years when new treatment regimens have been instituted. Nonetheless, since a person’s immune system is impacted this varies with individuals. Many people do not die directly from AIDS, but rather from the diseases that then are able to affect their immune system, which is weakened.

Can you have children if you have HIV/AIDS?

Yes, but it is important that your doctor be advised and you follow their guidance.

If you have children, will they contact HIV/AIDS from the mother? Father?

Yes, it is possible for the virus to be transmitted during the pregnancy but not all pregnant women who are infected pass it on to their newborn.

Can you get AIDS from kissing/hugging/touching?

No.

What is the demographic of HIV/AIDS victims?

Anyone who practices unsafe sex with someone who has been tested positive for the virus or who uses IV drugs or shares needles is vulnerable. The demographics are constantly changing, AIDS has become a worldwide epidemic.

If you are raped, how can you find out if you have contracted HIV/AIDS?

If raped, it is important to be tested to be sure you have not contracted any STD including HIV. After you are tested, you should be re-tested in 3-6 months.

How can someone get involved in HIV/AIDS prevention/research?

You may contact ME if this is something you are interested in getting involved in; I can send you to the right people, at least in Utah.

Protect yourself; be one less person at risk for HIV/AIDS! Today, let's remember all of those that are suffering physically, mentally and/or emotionally from AIDS. Let us also remember all those that have passed from this virus.

Please be aware of what is going on in the SLC, UT community and get involved! 

http://www.utahaids.org/coming-attractions/WAD2010/world-aids-day-community-awareness-events/

Breastfeeding

Loved this article; I found it very interesting! It's quite lengthy, but well worth the read. So, thought I would share :)

Normal Newborn Behavior and Why Breastmilk Isn't Just Food

by Lakeshore Medical Breastfeeding Medicine Clinic on Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 8:55am

What is a normal, term human infant supposed to do?

First of all, a human baby is supposed to be born vaginally. Yes, I know that doesn't always happen, but we're just going to talk ideal, normal for now. We are supposed to be born vaginally because we need good bacteria. Human babies are sterile, without bacteria, at birth. It's no accident that we are born near the anus, an area that has lots of bacteria, most of which are good and necessary for normal gut health and development of the immune system. And the bacteria that are there are mom's bacteria, bacteria that she can provide antibodies against if the bacteria there aren't nice.

Then the baby is born and is supposed to go to mom. Right to her chest. The chest, right in between the breasts is the natural habitat of the newborn baby. (Fun fact: our cardiac output, how much blood we circulate in a given minute, is distributed to places that are important. Lots goes to the kidney every minute, like 10% or so, and 20% goes to your brain. In a new mom, 23% goes to her chest- more than her brain. The body thinks that place is important!)

That chest area gives heat. The baby has been using mom's body for temperature regulation for ages. Why would they stop? With all that blood flow, it's going to be warm. The baby can use mom to get warm. When I was in my residency, we would put a cold baby "under the warmer" which meant a heater thingy next to mom. Now, as I have matured, if a baby is "under the warmer," the kid is under mom. I wouldn't like that. I like the kids on top of mom, snuggled.

Now we have a brand new baby on the warmer. That child is not hungry. Bringing a hungry baby into the world is a bad plan. And really, if they were hungry, can you please explain to me why my kids sucked the life force out of me in those last few weeks of pregnancy? They better have been getting food, or well, that would have been annoying and painful for nothing.

Every species has instinctual behaviors that allow the little ones to grow up to be big ones and keep the species going. Our kids are born into the world needing protection. Protection from disease and from predators. Yes, predators. Our kids don't know they've been born into a loving family in the 21st century- for all they know it's the 2nd century and they are in a cave surrounded by tigers. Our instinctive behaviors as baby humans need to help us stay protected. Babies get both disease protection and tiger protection from being on mom's chest. Presumably, we gave the baby some good bacteria when they arrived through the birth canal. That's the first step in disease protection. The next step is getting colostrum.

A newborn baby on mom's chest will pick their head up, lick their hands, maybe nuzzle mom, lick their hands and start to slide towards the breast. The kids have a preference for contrasts between light and dark, and for circles over other shapes. Think about that...there's a dark circle not too far away.

Mom's sweat smells like amniotic fluid, and that smell is on the child's hands (because there's been no bath yet!) and the baby uses that taste on their hand to follow mom's smell. The secretions coming from the glands on the areola (that dark circle) smell familiar too and help the baby get to the breast to get the colostrum which is going to feed the good bacteria and keep them protected from infection. The kids can attach by themselves. Watch for yourself! And if you just need colostrum to feed bacteria and not yourself, well, there doesn't have to be much. And there isn't because the kids aren't hungry and because Breastmilk is not food!

We're talking normal babies. Breastfeeding is normal. It's what babies are hardwired to do. 2009 or 209, the kids would all do the same thing: try to find the breast. Breastfeeding isn't special sauce, a leg up or a magic potion. It's not "best." It's normal. Just normal. Designed for the needs of a vulnerable human infant. And nothing else designed to replace it is normal.

Colostrum also activates things in the baby's gut that then goes on to make the thymus grow. The thymus is part of the immune system. Growing your thymus is important. Breastmilk= big thymus, good immune system. Colostrum also has a bunch of something called Secretory Immunoglobulin A (SIgA). SIgA is made in the first few days of life and is infection protection specifically from mom. Cells in mom's gut watch what's coming through and if there's an infectious cell, a special cell in mom's gut called a plasma cell heads to the breast and helps the breast make SIgA in the milk to protect the baby. If mom and baby are together, like on mom's chest, then the baby is protected from what the two of them may be exposed to. Babies should be with mom.

And the tigers. What about them? Define "tiger" however you want. But if you are baby with no skills in self-protection, staying with mom, having a grasp reflex, and a startle reflex that helps you grab onto your mom, especially if she's hairy, makes sense. Babies know the difference between a bassinette and a human chest. When infants are separated from their mothers, they have a "despair- withdrawal" response. The despair part comes when they alone, separated. The kids are vocally expressing their desire not to be tiger food. When they are picked up, they stop crying. They are protected, warm and safe. If that despair cry is not answered, they withdraw. They get cold, have massive amounts of stress hormones released, drop their heart rate and get quiet. That's not a good baby. That's one who, well, is beyond despair. Normal babies want to be held, all the time.

And when do tigers hunt? At night. It makes no sense at all for our kids to sleep at night. They may be eaten. There's nothing really all that great about kids sleeping through the night. They should wake up and find their body guard. Daytime, well, not so many threats. They sleep better during the day. (Think about our response to our tigers-- sleep problems are a huge part of stress, depression, anxiety.)

And sleep... My guess is everybody sleeps with their kids- whether they choose to or not and whether they admit to it or not. It's silly of us as healthcare providers to say "don't sleep with your baby" because we all do it. Sometimes accidentally. Sometimes intentionally. The kids are snuggly, it feels right and you are tired. So, normal babies breastfeed, stay at the breast, want to be held and sleep better when they are with their parents. Seems normal to me. But there is a difference between a normal baby and one that isn't. Safe sleep means that we are sober, in bed and not a couch or a recliner, breastfeeding, not smoking...being normal. If the circumstances are not normal, then sleeping with the baby is not safe.

That chest -to -chest contact is also brain development. Our kids had as many brain cells as they were ever going to have at 28 weeks of gestation. It's a jungle of waiting -to-be- connected cells. What we do as humans is create too much and then get rid of what we aren't using. We have like 8 nipples, a tail and webbed hands in the womb. If all goes well, we don't have those at birth. Create too much- get rid of what you aren't using. So, as you are snuggling, your child is hooking up happy brain cells and hopefully getting rid of the "eeeek" brain cells. Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, is brain wiring. Not food.

Why go on and on about this? Because more and more mothers are choosing to breastfeed. But most women don't believe that the body that created that beautiful baby is capable of feeding that same child and we are supplementing more and more with infant formulas designed to be food. Why don't we trust our bodies post-partum? I don't know. But I hear over and over that the formula is because "I am just not satisfying him." Of course you are. Babies don't need to "eat" all the time- they need to be with you all the time- that's the ultimate satisfaction.

A baby at the breast is getting their immune system developed, activating their thymus, staying warm, feeling safe from predators, having normal sleep patterns and wiring their brain, and (oh by the way) getting some food in the process. They are not "hungry" --they are obeying instinct. The instinct that allows us to survive and make more of us.

Dr. Thomas

A shout out to all mothers!

I would like to pay a special tribute to my wonderful mother that does not give herself enough credit! She is an amazing woman that I truly admire. I am grateful to have a mother that has taught me the value of hard work and supports me in all that I strive to accomplish. She is one of the greatest, most selfless people I know! 

While I do not want to detract from my own mother and how much I care for her and wish to celebrate her, I would also like to take some time to pay tribute to all mothers around the globe. Let’s think about moving the apostrophe so that it becomes not just Mother’s Day, honoring a single mother, but Mothers’ Day — an occasion to try to help other mothers around the globe.

I faithfully follow Nicholas Kristof, who is a writer for the New York Times. He writes about a variety of global [conflict] issues. His article in lieu of Mother's Day is beautiful! I have pulled a few interesting stats from this article, but you may also link to the article in its entirety here.

Some $14 billion will be spent in the United States for Mother’s Day this year, according to the National Retail Federation. That includes $2.9 billion in meals, $2.5 billion in jewelry and $1.9 billion in flowers.

To put that sum in context, it’s enough to pay for a primary school education for all 60 million girls around the world who aren’t attending school. That would pretty much end female illiteracy.

These numbers are fuzzy and uncertain, but it appears that there would be enough money left over for programs to reduce deaths in childbirth by about three-quarters, saving perhaps 260,000 women’s lives a year. There would probably even be enough remaining to treat tens of thousands of young women suffering from one of the most terrible things that can happen to a person, a childbirth injury called an obstetric fistula.

These numbers blow me away! Haven't hear enough statistics yet? Check this out:

• The United States’ rate for maternal mortality is 1 in 4,800 – one of the highest in the developed world.”
• A woman in the Unites States is more than five times as likely as a woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece or Italy to die from pregnancy-related causes in her lifetime and her risk of maternal death is nearly 10-fold that of a woman in Ireland. (2010 State of the World's Mothers)
• 50 million women in the developing world give birth without professional help and 8.8 million children and newborns die from easily preventable or treatable causes.
• The risk of a woman dying from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes in Niger is 1 in 7.  The risk is 1 in 8 in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.  Compared to Ireland, that risk was 1 in 47,600.

 Every minute, a mother dies from complications during pregnancy or childbirth. In fact, in many countries, a girl is more likely to die in pregnancy than to finish secondary school. Mothers should be remembered and honored today, on Mother's Day, but I hope tha

Publish Post

t we can see a turn in some of the frightening statistics and see women’s lives become more of a priority!

UDOH

Despite how much I wish I was working on an international level right now, I have to say, that I work with a pretty cool group of people and have a pretty great job! I am learning so much and am so grateful to have a great group of people that I can constantly be learning from and a boss that encourages me to step it up. Just wanted to post a few pics from our different events.

PROGRAM PARTY in Feb!

Edwin and his "Sister-Wives"


Program Birthday lunch for me and Heather

Mmmm! Indian food!!


We are able to work a lot of fun and interesting events. During April, we did HIV and STD testing at the Queer Prom, which was a lot of fun! This last week, we did outreach at USANA Amphitheater. Those are just a few of the events, but we get to do a lot of education and outreach in the community, which I love!

Queer Prom 2010 - HIV/STD Testing/Counseling

My UDOH ladies!

Me and Kristen running the HIV table

Catch The Answers - our social campaign at UDOH


Can you tell it was the end of a long night??

Ahhh...I feel so renewed, so happy, so fulfilled! I attended the University of Utah's Global Health Conference yesterday, BYU's Global Family Health Conference two weeks ago, and my RESULTS meeting today! It is so invigorating sitting in a room full of people that are equally, or more, passionate about the same things that I am. I love it! Honestly, there are few things that give me that much happiness; being involved makes my heart smile :)

Yesterday's conference had an amazing line up of speakers, including one of the doctors that I had the privileged of working with 3 summers ago while I was in Ghana.

The Global Health Conference at BYU, included one of my dearest and sweetest acquaintances, Dr Socorro Gross, who I had the honor of working with when I worked with PAHO. It was fun to see her here in Utah and spend my lunch talking with her and trying to figure out how we were going to get me back out to DC! 

It's been so great to catch up with old friends that are so inspiring. Also so stimulating to sit and listen to other people that are so passionate about Global Health. Sir Michael Marmont was one of those people. What an inspiring and motivating man. It was great to meet him, in person, as he doesn't often speak at conference outside of UN Summit Meetings.

I learned a lot through the conferences and look forward to learning more and the upcoming conferences that I will be attending (in the near future - UPHA {Utah Public Health Association} Conference and then in June, the Global Health Conference in Washington, D.C.).

Yay! I feel like such a nerd right now that I feel so fulfilled by stuff like this. I love it though! haha

A Tribute to Women

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!!
March 8, 2010

Today is International Women’s Day! In fact, it is the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day. It’s a date that is much better known abroad but is slowly gaining more attention in the United States as well.

"Just over a hundred years after the first Women’s Day in 1909, the world certainly has much to celebrate. But this homage to women’s social, political and economic empowerment rings hollow to most women around the world, who battle to gain basic rights to education, access to healthcare, and minimal power over their own lives. I am moved by the challenges they face, inconceivable to those of us privileged enough to live in a more developed country; we should turn a day like today into a reminder that we cannot afford to focus solely on our own issues" (Carla Bruni-Sarkozy).





I was looking at last year's post I did for International Women's Day. I got thinking about how lucky I am to be surrounded by such beautiful, wonderful women! Also, how grateful I am to be able to continually get travel and meet new and empowering women from all over the world, I am able to learn so much from them!


I feel so lucky and blessed to be a woman. I know it may sounds cheesey, or cliche, but seriously! Women are the heart of society – earners, caregivers, nurturers, drivers of change and I am proud to be a part of that force.

It is our shared responsibility to help ensure that our sisters in developing countries also have access to the basic rights and services that most of us have the luxury to take for granted. By investing in women, we are investing in the health and development of families, of communities, and ultimately of entire countries.

TAKE SOME TIME TODAY...

TO REMEMBER

ALL THE BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING

WOMEN
IN YOUR LIFE!!!

Haiti

Wow. This post has been long delayed. Every time I sat down to write up my thoughts, I couldn't. I have had the opportunity to study and read a lot about Haiti. As many of you now know, if you didn't before, that Haiti is the epitome of terrible infrastructure, especially when it comes to it's public health infrastructure. In all of my grad school courses, Haiti was generally used as the example of poor public health. It truly is heart breaking.

I became especially engaged in Haiti and the public health work being done there a few years back, while working with an NGO in rural Peru. I had read a few excerpts of Paul Farmer's writings, but was not extremely familiar with all that he had done in Haiti, or the rest of the world, for that matter. Upon finishing up whatever other book I was reading at the time, I asked the others I was working with, if they had any books I could read. One handed me the biography of Paul Farmer. I think I finished the book in a matter of two days. Couldn't put it down. The man is incredibly inspiring and has since then, become my hero; someone I personally aspire to be more like and obtain the passion he carries for his work. I can't say enough good things about him.

Back in November, I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with him. I am involved with a national organization that is a leading force in ending poverty in the United States and around the world. The focus of the organization is to target the underlying conditions of poverty - mainly health disparities and education, or the lack thereof. Sitting in on this conference call though, renewed my effort to again, become as passionate and motivated as Paul Farmer - or at least to some degree he is (if you have read Mountains Beyond Mountains, the biography about him, you know that it may be next to impossible for most people to have to amount of passion and devotion to work that he does). Again, through the recent earthquake in Haiti, I have felt the stirrings of public health ardor, specifically through the work that Paul Farmer has done in Haiti.
By some great act of God, people were still being rescued 8-11 days past the initial 7.0 earthquake. That still blows my mind! What miracles. We have all heard them the past two weeks, we all wish we could do more, we all feel anguish in our hearts for these poor people of Haiti. I have to post the following, because I thought it was so beautifully written. It comes from Dr Sanjay Gupta, the CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, who has been down in Haiti since shortly after the earthquake.

A couple of days ago, a man was stoned to death about a block from where we are staying in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I have been down here nearly two weeks covering the earthquake devastation, having arrived quickly the morning after it occurred. I didn’t see the stoning myself, but several of my colleagues described a man who had been trying to steal money and was met with swift and deadly citizen justice. A lot was made of this particular tragedy, and if you caught only that headline, you might be left believing the incident was in some way emblematic of what was happening all over the place. Truth is, even though I braced myself to see rampant lawlessness and mob hostility, I wanted to blog about what I have actually seen.

As I drove through the streets of Port-au-Prince, just 16 hours after the earthquake, I was met with stunned stares and unfathomable grief, as parents tried to dig their babies out of the rubble and older kids did the same for their parents. It was heartbreaking. And though we raced out with our first aid bags to help those we could, it seemed like we would never be able to make a dent in the suffering. There were people who died in this earthquake and those who lived – but there were also a large number of people somehow caught in between. They were alive, but terribly injured and dying. That is where we focused our attention. Terrible crush injuries of arms and legs. Degloving injuries, where the skin of the arms or legs was ripped away. And, people so malnourished and dehydrated that they could barely walk.

I expected to see those stunned stares turn to desperation, and that desperation turn to brutality. It didn’t. In fact, I remember driving by a water station that had finally opened on January 18th, five days after the earthquake struck. It stayed in my mind for two reasons. First of all, five days is a long time to go with little to no water, especially in Haiti heat. Second of all, there was no pushing, shoving or aggressive behavior. There were no armed guards and there was a tight line, with people waiting patiently. Some were even singing songs, while blistering away in the heat. I almost cried. A piece of my faith in humanity, which had been trashed by too many terrible images, was slowly restored.

A couple of days later, I was seeing patients at one of the hospitals in downtown. It was actually more of a tent city situated outside the hospital, where care was sparse and misery was thick. Helping care for wounds, evaluate injuries and even perform surgery – every single patient said thank you, in Creole, French and English. Thank you. When recounting this to a neurosurgery colleague of mine, he reminded me that we could often go months working at a county hospital in the states without ever hearing those two words.

Over the last two weeks, I have not seen the violence Haiti has been known for in years past. During this time, when lawlessness had been put to the test, it seems the people of Port-au-Prince stood tall, dignified and with respect for one another. Yes, there has been “looting” from stores of supplies. But, is “looting” even the correct term for people taking basic necessities for themselves and their families? Instead, it is just survival, and faced with the same situation, I would’ve likely been right there with them, wanting to preserve the lives of my wife and children.

Consider this a blog that went beyond a headline, and presented a reporter’s on-the-ground view of this very important issue. I won’t pretend that this is more than a slice of life in the aftermath of a terrible natural disaster, but it is my slice, and I wanted to share it with you. Thank you – for reading it.

If you’re thinking of donating, please put Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health, whom I previously mentioned, at the top of your list. PIH Paul Farmer and PIH have been doing ground-breaking grassroots health care in Haiti for a couple of decades now (particularly around complex long-term HIV and TB care), and they are probably the best equipped NGO to understand the landscape of need on the ground in Port-au-Prince and the highlands. Farmer has acquired more credibility than almost anyone in Haiti. After all, he has built one of the most durable health institutions in the country, which counts some 5,000 employees and -- incredibly -- serves over 10% of Haiti's populations. They may not be as flashy or well-known as the Red Cross, but they are among the best at pulling communities together to the task at hand. And an immense, terrible task it will be in these coming months.

A little more about Farmer and PIH (great video clip, worth your time to learn about one of the most inspiring people I know of):

A wise friend shared with me this quote by Stanley Jones:

“The most absolutely happy people of the world are those who choose to care till it hurts. The most miserable people of the world are those who center upon themselves and deliberately shun the cares of others in the interest of their own happiness. It eludes them. They save their lives and they lose them.”

I don’t know why terrible things like earthquakes happen. I don’t know why so many people have to suffer. I believe that there are opportunities for each of us to care till it hurts, to comfort those who mourn, to make a difference, just as there are opportunities to turn our faces away from suffering, to ignore those in need, to stay inside our own lives.

ALL NEW!

HIV/AIDS prevention services, surveillance, treatment and care; tuberculosis control/refugee health services; hepatitis C control and sexually transmitted disease control and elimination. Yup, this is what my NEW JOB entails! As of tomorrow, I will be with Bureau of Epidemiology at the Utah Department of Health. Although it isn't Washington, D.C. or NYC, like I had been hoping for, it is still a job, using my degree. So for now, this is what I'll be doing! I'm going to stick around the hospital as well a bit longer (I know, y'all are thinking, "SHERRIE!!! Quit already! Escape while you can!). I have really enjoyed the people I work with there though and need the extra cash right now, so I'm keeping my Sundays at least for a couple months.

I have also recently acquired a new HAIR COLOR - I have left my blonde forces and joined the Brunette crews! It's fun, not going to lie! Definitely miss the blonde, but for now, very happy with the brunette!