Global Health News and Events

MUSC medical student forgoes ecological research for global medicine career Another cold, dreary day goes by and Susan Linn, second year medical student at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), hears of another preventable death. Had the only clinic on the island where she worked been staffed the decedent would have received much needed treatment. Alcoholism ravages the island—it is hard to discern the causal relationship between heavy consumption and mental illness in either direction. Public health education is nonexistent. The healthcare system is almost irremediably splintered. The North Slope of Alaska may have public health conditions comparable	Experts at MUSC talk Ebola preparedness By Helen Adams The arrival of the first Ebola patient in an American hospital comes as no surprise to infectious disease experts at the Medical University of South Carolina. “There have been several false alarms before now, which shows that health care systems are paying attention to patients’ symptoms and epidemiology,” said L.W. Preston Church, M.D., associate professor in MUSC’s Infectious Diseases Division. “People are thinking about Ebola and taking appropriate action.” Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a
MUSC Center for Global Health to host PBS Frontline film screening of "Ebola Outbreak" and panel discussion Join the MUSC Center for Global Health as we screen PBS Frontline’s documentary, Ebola Outbreak highlighting the struggles containing and managing the latest outbreak in West Africa. Immediately following the 30-minute screening, MUSC and community experts will lead a panel discussion addressing a wide range of themes including the infectious disease control challenges and the public health aspects of the epidemic, and the mental health challenges facing the community and health care workers as they battle this crisis. Jeffery Deal, MD, MA from	MUSC neurosurgeon finds sensory delight and reward in global work Traveling to remote locations around the world poses interesting challenges. Some of them are programmatic and administrative. Some require close attention to one’s own health and security, depending on the region. What travelers often experience upon arrival to a new place is mostly perceptual: new scents, bizarre cuisine, kaleidoscopic hues of color, tropical fauna and sites only seen on television or in
Updates from the Field: MUSC student Elizabeth Slaughter, Uganda *05/12/2014* Today we saw a lot of patients with back pain. As occupational therapy (OT) students, we learned a lot in our anatomy and musculoconditions course about the back muscles and how to ergonomically handle daily task management; however, we did not cover many interventions for back pain. Working with the physical therapy (PT) students on patients with back pain was a	Pharmacy student shows need for effective prescription safety, counseling in Ghana “I’ve always said that people die a lot in Africa from not knowing enough,” Nana Assah, a third year pharmacy student, explained as what he believes is part of the cause of the continent’s historic plight. Assah is originally from Ghana, West Africa and, as a native, understands the public health issues populations face in West Africa. The knowledge gap is glaringly deep and wide, he said. And it is due at little fault to the
21 facts about Ebola virus disease (source: examiner.com/Getty images) MUSC Center for Global Health answers some questions about Ebola Virus Disease with facts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). 1. The Ebola virus is not waterborne or airborne. 2. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ebola virus can be	MUSC Infectious disease expert treats kids in Haiti By Helen Adams It’s a long way from the historic streets of Charleston to the unpaved roads of rural Haiti in more ways than one. Not only is it a trip of more than a thousand miles; it is also a journey to a country trying to recover from years of government corruption, a devastating 2010 earthquake, a cholera epidemic, and poverty described by the U.S. government as the worst in the Western Hemisphere. In June, a team of medical students, physicians and other health care providers from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) made that journey on a volunteer
A trip to Morocco changes a dentist's perspective By Helen Adams Walter Renne, DMD is fearless when it comes to performing complicated dental procedures on his patients at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Putting his trust in an airplane traveling hundreds of miles an hour is another matter. “I’m not too used to going places. I’m scared to fly,” Renne recently said in his office in MUSC’s Division of Restorative Dentistry. He’s not alone. One	Updates from the field: Caroline West, Tanzania *7/09/2014* Jambo everyone! Greetings from Tanzania! I arrived in Dar es Salaam at 8 o'clock on Monday evening without any travel issues. The visa process was a bit startling, but was handled quickly and was able to meet my boyfriend, David, and my driver outside of the airport. The first night we stayed at the Slipway Hotel—very comfortable—and enjoyed a meal seaside while watching the Germany-Algeria game. We met with Ginny Tuesday morning,

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