Public Health School Hosts Haitian Leader

The Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine will host Dr. Alex Larsen, minister of health for the Republic of Haiti, during a four-day series of events focusing on capacity building in Haiti's health sector.

At a public meeting on Thursday (July 8), Larsen will discuss health needs in Haiti six months after the earthquake. Dr. Claude Surena, coordinator of health response to the earthquake in Haiti and president of the Haitian Medical Association, also will speak on the country's medical-training needs. Local medical professionals, disaster specialists, elected officials and members of New Orleans' Haitian community are expected to attend. The meeting is from 9:20 until 11:30 a.m. in the Diboll Auditorium, 1440 Canal St.

The meetings will include other health officials from Haiti, deans from two Haitian universities, and faculty and deans from several other American universities. Six universities will participate as the American component of an international consortium of universities assisting in the recovery of health services in the Caribbean nation.

“It's an honor for Tulane to be selected for the minister's first visit to a university in the United States,” said Carl Kendall, co-director of the Tulane Center for Global Health Equity and the leader of the public health school's response to the Haitian earthquake in January.

Kendall and his team have worked in Haiti for seven years under the auspices of the University Technical Assistance Project, an effort funded by the Global AIDS Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The meetings will include tours of the school's distance-learning facilities and the Tulane School of Medicine, as well as presentations and round-table discussions to develop the future activities of the university consortium.

Dee Boling is director of communications for the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.