by Katherine Miller, executive director of communications, UN Foundation
After four long days in Bellagio, a couple of things are clear. Conferences are conferences -- meaning that even the world's nicest conference facility is still, well, a facility. But there is a certain magic about Bellagio and that was clear by the end of the conference. So while I'm glad to be home, it is also because I'm excited about being back and work and trying to make the ideas that came out the mHealth session something real and help deliver better health care to the developing world.
Work that is even more exciting because the group of people who attended the conference -- including representatives from Noikia, Vodafone Group, Gates Foundation, QualComm, Microsoft, and many other companies and NGOs -- all made real, measurable commitments to helping promote the issues related to mHealth both back within their own organizations and with the general public.
I just made it home after a whirlwind day of travel from Rwanda to Liberia to Senegal to Mexico. One of the most fascinating stops was in Liberia, where the United Nations Peacekeeping presence is very, very heavy.
More UNMIL after the jump.
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>>Iraq - On the third day of negotiations, political leaders in Iraq may have come to an agreement allowing provincial elections to proceed this year. The solution was put forth by a representative from the UN, who suggested that the law should contain an article calling for a solution to the controversial Kirkuk issue before the end of October, essentially decoupling the issue from the legislation. If a deal is worked out today, the elections can be held this year.>>Iraqi Refugees - Through a resettlement program announced today by the UNHCR, some of Iraq's most vulnerable refugees will be moved to Iceland and Sweden. The refugees affected by this effort are Palestinian, persecuted in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein primarily because of his support before being deposed.>>Russia - After several days of fighting in South Ossetia, Russia stated today it will not stay on the sidelines if conditions worsen. South Ossetian separatists have claimed that Georgian troops are targeting civilians as they shell Tskhinvali.Yesterday in UN Dispatch
Mark is traveling with President Clinton, who is visiting his Clinton Foundation Projects on the continent.
Monrovia, Liberia: The United Nations is everywhere. As we touched down at the Roberts International Airport here a half dozen UN helicopters rested on the tarmac next to two small UN Humanitarian Air Service Planes. We were picked up in UN-marked shuttle buses, and hundreds of peacekeepers and UN police from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) lined the road from the airport to the city.
En route we passed the headquarters of the Ghanaian, Indian, and Nigerian battalions. We also saw a number of signs designating UNMIL "Quick Impact Projects." As the name would suggest, these are UNMIL-sponsored construction jobs meant to garner good will and show some positive results for the peacekeeping mission, which numbers around 15,000.
The majority of UNMIL's uniformed personnel are police. At a small market in town, I had the chance to meet the operational commander of the famous Indian Female Formed Police Unit. (Pictured here meeting President Clinton.) We've reported on this experimental unit on Dispatch before, and seeing them operate in person, I can say that they stand shoulder-to-shoulder -- and AK-47 to AK-47 -- with their male counterparts.
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>>China - In what the state news agency has called a "terrorist attack," 16 policemen in Xinjiang were killed and 16 were injured when a truck rammed a group of police jogging and then attacked with explosives and knives. Xinjiang is home to a Muslim Uighur population that feels oppressed by Chinese rule.>>Bangladesh - Bangladeshis voted in the first stage of local elections today, the first poll held since the military took power through an interim government in 2007. All candidates were "independents" as political parties have been banned. A series of local elections will be held, concluding in October. No voting irregularities have yet been reported.>>AIDS - The Global Aids Conference opened in Mexico today, 25 years after the disease first became prevalent. Ahead of the meeting, new figures show that the number of affected people worldwide has decreased, although some nations are still seeing an increase in infections and many cannot get access to the correct treatment. Over 20,000 officials, scientists, and others, including President Clinton and Mark Goldberg, will be in Mexico for the meeting.Yesterday in UN Dispatch
Debra Zeit, Oromia, Ethiopia --- These young women save lives for a living. They are not nurses. They don't even have a high school education. Yet, they are professional lifesavers. How? These young women are community liaisons between the Godina Health Clinic (pictured in the background) and the rural community of Debra Zeit. In doing so, they are critical players in a new trend in global health.
In developing countries like Ethiopia, the global health community's focus is starting to turn from initiatives to take on specific diseases like HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis to programs that strengthen public health infrastructures as a whole. The so-called "Health Extension Workers" that I met are at the cutting edge of this trend.
As I travel throughout Africa and Mexico with President Clinton this week I'll document how the donor community (including the Clinton Foundation and the United Nations Foundation), UN agencies like UNICEF and the World Health Organization, and governments are shifting from disease-specific initiatives to strengthening public health systems.
The story of the young Health Extension Workers helps explain why this shift is so important--and why tackling the scourge of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other public health emergencies in the developing world depends on recruiting more women like these.
By Katherine Miller, Executive Director of Communications, UN Foundation
So we've been trapped at the Rockefeller Center at Bellagio for three days now talking about mHealth. While it may seem like an easy job -- who doesn't want to spend a week in Italy, after all -- it isn't. Some of the most experienced global health professionals are here and everyone is trying to figure out what their role, their project, their initiative is.
But after nearly a full day of brainstorming, something very exciting happened: our groups came up with five unique yet complimentary projects to help improve health care in the developing world. While its too early to talk specifics, these projects include using hand-mobile devices to deliver health care in rural areas; control and ultimately prevent disease outbreaks; improve the quality of life for patients with chronic diseases; and could lead to greater collaboration among some of the world's biggest and best technology companies.
At least I hope so. The best part of the day was listening to the groups run through their nascent business plans and take questions from their colleagues. Not an easy thing to do but they all did it and tomorrow, on Day 4, we're going to try and figure out how to make these projects real.
The other thing happening here is a true recognition that partnerships and working together will actually help us to move mHealth into the developing world more quickly. In the beginning, the developers sat with the developers and the corporates with corporates but by day three each of the groups had representatives from each sector and they we're all excited to share expertise, advice and ideas.
A really interesting partnership that I have learned about here is the Millennium Villages Project. This project, which is active in more than 20 villages is looking at how to provide education, health care and other services from the ground up. Included in the project are Gates, Ericsson (which is providing the hardware for the villages) and numerous other groups. While still in the early stages, Earth Institute (Jefrey Sach's group) is leading it and it shows great promise as a way to make a big difference in people's lives.
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