NASSIM ASSEFI

doctor/writer
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GLOBAL HEALTH RESOURCES
Here are some useful sites that have shaped my thinking and experiences of global health, women's health, and the public health impact of war.  
 
Thought-leaders:
1. Laurie Garrett.  One of the most influential voices in global public health today. Science journalist, public health specialist, and Council on Foreign Relations fellow. Read her incisive analysis of global health challenges today by clicking on her downloads (bottom right hand corner) from Foreign Affairs.
 
2. Dr. Stephen Bezruchka. Seattle-area physician, public health professor at University of Washington, scintillating speaker, activist soul. Check out his organization's website for Billionaire Olympics, useful links, lectures and powerpoint presentations (under resources).
 
3. Dr. Fitzhugh Mullan. Pediatrician, cancer survivor, social justice activist, author, Cuban medical system expert, GWU professor, specialist in diasporas' contribution to health in the homeland, and health policy guru (editor of Health Affairs). Check out his interview with the legendary Dr. Paul Farmer. 
 
4. Dr. Stephen Gloyd. International health expert and doctor, tackling infectious diseases in Africa while strengthening primary care public health infrastructure, founder of Health Alliance International, professor and global health leader at the University of Washington, social justice activist linking US foreign policy to health outcomes in developing world countries.
 
International Health-Related Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs):
1. Management Sciences for Health. The non-profit, educational and scientific organization working to close the gap between what is known about public health problems and what is done to solve them. I worked with them in Afghanistan for two years.
 
2. JHPIEGO. Johns Hopkins based NGO focusing on women’s health worldwide with a special emphasis on maternal health and clinical teaching. I worked closely with them in Afghanistan.
 
3. Family Health Alliance. Non-profit, apolitical NGO dedicated to improving the reproductive health of families worldwide, with a particular emphasis on the Middle East and Central Asia. I am on their board of advisors.
 
4. PATH. Seattle-based international NGO that promotes sustainable, culturally appropriate advances in health care and health behaviors.
 
International Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights NGOs that I support:
 
 
3. Reproductive Health in Response to Conflict Consortium. Focuses on refugees and internally displaced peoples.
 
 
 
Global Statistics:
 
 
 
 
 
6. Worldmapper.  Innovative, visually impacting world maps with countries that change size according to the variable studied. 
 
7. Gapminder. Amazing, moving global statistics founded by Swedish global development expert Hans Roslings.
 
Useful On-Line Health Publications:
1. Social Medicine. The journal of all things social justice and health related from the progressive family medicine folks at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. I loved their article on the Alma Ata Declaration by Fran Baum. Also a phenomenal resource is their general website.
 
2. MEDICC. The only English language journal about the achievements of the Cuban health system.
 
View the excellent video by the Kaiser Family Foundation on "In the Quest for Global Health, What Puts Cuba on the Map?" This video includes a 30 minute clip from the award-winning documentary ¡Salud!.
 
3. Save the Children. Great reports on maternal and child mortality and the importance of education (particularly for girls). 
 
4. Alma Ata Declaration. World Health Organization and UNICEF's revolutionary Health for All Statement in 1978. This is Wikipedia's version, but also search under Social Medicine website above.
 
5. Peter Singer's New York Times article from December 16, 2006 examining the ethics of what the wealthy should give, with an emphasis on health philanthropy.
 
5. TALC. Low cost global health teaching aides.
 
6. Some helpful books for medical types wanting to engage in service abroad: Awakening Hippocrates: A Primer on Health, Poverty, and Global Service by Edward O'Neil (Chicago, AMA, 2006, $34.95). O'Neil is an ER doctor who addresses big-picture aid issues such as global finance, national development, and donor-country politics while highlighting some inspiring global health heroes.  Two how-to books deserve mention. The first, free when accessed on line, is Working for Change: Making a Career in International Public Service by Derrick and Jennifer Brinkerhoff. The second, A Practical Guide to Global Health Services by Edward O'Neil (Chicago, AMA, 2006, $39.95), is O'Neil's practical companion to Awakening Hippocrates.  
 
7. A fantastic summative article in the September 20, 2007 New England Journal of Medicine by UCSF's Dr. Steven Schroeder that explains why the US is the richest country in the world, spends half of the world's health care bill, and yet performs poorly in nearly every measure of public health. The figures and tables are very helpful, especially the one showing proportionate contributors of premature death. Click here for We Can Do Better: Improving the Health of the American People.
 
8. Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, a 7 part PBS documentary about socioeconomic and racial disparities in US Health. Conceived as part of an ambitious public education campaign conducted in partnership with leading public health, policy, and community-based organizations, Unnatural Causes will help foster a new and hopeful approach to the public's health. I haven't seen it, but it promises to be good.
 
Alternative Global Stories:
1. New American Media. Expanding your news through an ethnic perspective.
 
2. Institute for Current World Affairs. A sophisticated global newsletter and fellowship by young Americans seeking truth, understanding, and beauty in the world.
 
3. Divawire. Holly Morris' Adventure Diva blog highlighting gutsy, activist women around the world.  
 
4. Big Pictures Small World Movies. Compelling short films that beautifully show the disparities between rich and poor, global environmental issues, achieving peace and more. Exceedingly effective UN-esque films.
 
5. Global Exchange. Progressive, international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.
 
6. Relief Web. Comprehensive information source for humanitarian aid workers (including job possibilities).
 
REFERENCES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT OF WAR TALK:
BOOKS:
1. Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer

2. Nonviolence by Mark Kurlansky

3. War and Public Health by Barry Levy and Victor Sidel

4. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

5. War Surgery in Afghanistan and Iraq: A series of cases, 2003-2007. Edited by Shawn Christian Nessen, Dave Edmond Lounsbury, and Stephen P Hetz

6. Treacherous Alliances: the Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States by Trita Parsi.

7. The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes.

8.The Prince of the Marshes and other Occupational Hazards of Living in Iraq by Rory Stewart.

9. Forthcoming: The War Machine and Global Health: A Critical Anthropological Examination of the Human Costs of Armed Conflict and the Violence Industry. Rowman and Littlefield (editors).

 

ON-LINE ARTICLES/USEFUL WEBSITES:

1. Medact, Rehabilitation Under Fire, Health Care in Iraq 2003-2007. Medact is an organization of health professionals highlighting
the health consequences of war, poverty and environmental
degradation and other major threats to global health. It is an affiliate of International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

2. RAND Study: Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery. 

3. What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy, an article by David Leonhardt in the New York Times, January 17, 2007.

4. Iraq by the Numbers by Tom Engelhardt. Tomdispatch.com, posted June 28, 2007. 

5. The Iraq Body Count Project.  

6. WHO Report 2008 Social Determinants of Health: Executive Summary and Final Report.   

7.  Spirit of 1848 website:  public health people concerned about social inequalities in health.

 

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Burkle FM Jr, Noji EK. Health and politics in the 2003 war with Iraq: lessons learned. Lancet 2004 ; 9442: 1371-5.

 

Burnham G, Lafta R, Doocy S, Roberts L. Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey. Lancet 2006;368:1421-1428. 

 

Connolly, M., M. Gayer, et al. Communicable diseases in complex emergencies: impact and challenges. Lancet 2004; 364: 1974-83.

 

Giles J. Death toll in Iraq: survey team takes on its critics. Nature 2007;446:6-7.

 

Rentz ED et al. Effect of deployment on the occurrence of child maltreatment in military and nonmilitary families. Am J Epidemiol 2007; 165:1199-206.

 

Roberts, L., R. Lafta, et al. Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey. Lancet 2004; 364(9448): 1857-64.

 

Working Group for Mortality Estimation in Emergencies. Wanted: studies on mortality estimation methods for humanitarian emergencies, suggestions for future research. Emerg Themes Epidemiol 2007;4:9-9. 

 

 
NGOs I support in Afghanistan and Cuba:
 

1. Afghan Mini Mobile Circus for Children 

2. Arzu Rugs: Hope by Design 

3. PARSA: Discovering the Afghan Spirit 

 
4. MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation Center with Cuba). Help post Hurricanes Gustav and Ike
 
 
 
 
 
Village woman in Herat province. Photo credit: Nassim Assefi