"Diseases of Poverty" Under a Microscope
Tulane RESULTS, a student grassroots organization dedicated to ending hunger and poverty, will host a three-day series of seminars on the “Diseases of Poverty” beginning on Wednesday (April 1), featuring experts on the impact of diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and cholera on developing nations around the globe.
The impact of diseases on developing nations around the globe is the focus of the “Diseases of Poverty” seminars on the uptown campus. (Photo illustration by Paula Burch-Celentano)
“As a college-based chapter, Tulane RESULTS aims to create the political will within the Tulane community to end hunger and poverty using national RESULTS as a guide,” says Pearl Kuo, a leader of the Tulane RESULTS chapter.
The seminar series begins with Tuberculosis Day on Wed. (April 1) from 6â“7 p.m. in room 202, the Rechler Conference Room, of the Lavin-Bernick Center. The speakers are Latha Rajan, clinical assistant professor of public health in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and Eva Moya, who works with the Cross Border TB initiative in El Paso, Texas.
The goal of this group is to allow tuberculosis patients from either side of the border to obtain medication regardless of the patient's location. This session is co-sponsored by Women in Science.
Also on Wednesday, Tulane RESULTS members will staff a table in the Stern Hall breezeway to raise money to buy oral rehydration salts for UNICEF. These are used to treat the dehydration that accompanies diarrheal diseases like cholera and can lead to death. The salts are a cheap and easy treatment that could save millions of lives if they were available where needed.
Cholera Day is on Thursday (April 2) with a session from 5â“6 p.m. in room 212, the Qatar Ballroom, at the LBC. Dr. Richard Oberhelman, interim chair of the Department of Tropical Medicine and a pediatrician, will discuss his work in cholera and diarrheal diseases in Peru and other countries.
Friday (April 3) is Malaria Day from 6â“7 p.m. in room 201 of the LBC. Joseph Keating, assistant professor of international health and development, will discuss the impact of malaria on global poverty, as well as recent progress made in the fight against malaria. This session is co-sponsored by the Residence Hall Association.
RESULTS is a national organization devoted to eliminating the worst aspects of global hunger and poverty.
Kuo added, “Last semester, the Tulane chapter sent 70 letters to Louisiana Congressman Joseph Cao asking him to authorize $60 million in funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. The chapter also helped FaceAIDS promote awareness of AIDS and sold pins to the Tulane community.”
All sessions of the “Diseases of Poverty” seminar series are free and open to the public. For further information on the seminars, e-mail RESULTS leaders Pearl Kuo and Jamie Carpenter at results@tulane.edu.
