Presentation at College of Public Health: "Health and International Humanitarian Assistance: 30 Years of Evolution"

This presentation may be of interest to members....

The OSU College of Public Health and the OSU Center for African Studies are pleased to sponsor a presentation on

"Health and International Humanitarian Assistance: 30 Years of Evolution"
Dr. Ron Waldman, MD, MPH
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health
USAID, Team Leader, Pandemic Planning/Humanitarian Response

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
3:30 - 5:00
Younkin Success Center, Room 150
1640 Neil Avenue (across from the OSU Medical Center)

Dr.Waldman will discuss the evolution of humanitarian assistance over the past 30 years, with a strong emphasis on the health and nutrition sectors. He will cover aspects of the complex emergencies in Somalia, Sudan and Mozambique. Lessons learned from events surrounding the genocide in Rwanda will be highlighted. The role of the United Nations, bilateral donors, and non-governmental organizations and their ability to work in the face of extensive human rights abuses will form the basis for discussion.

After receiving his medical degree from the University of Geneva, Dr. Waldman began his career as a volunteer in the World Health Organization's Global Smallpox Eradication Program in Bangladesh. He joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1977 and, during his 25 years there, helped develop the epidemiology of refugee health by working in crises in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Eastern Europe. He also served as a regional epidemiologist, based in West Africa, for the Combatting Communicable Diseases of Childhood Program, as Secretary of WHO's Task Force on Cholera Control, and as Technical Director of the global child survival project, BASICS.

He is the founder of the Program on Forced Migration and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University where he is Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health. Dr. Waldman serves on the Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee, the Board of Directors of Physicians for Human Rights, and has published extensively on complex emergencies and on child health in developing countries.

Free and open to the public. For more information contact cas@osu.edu or 292-8169.