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We launched the Global Health Delivery website, GHDonline.org, at the end of June. We started the project last summer with a long list of great ideas and a bit of funding. I interviewed dozens of doctors, midwives, social workers and other people working in health in Rwanda, Zambia, and other African countries to find out what these people really need. They want to be able to:

1. find good quality information fast (vsat connections and spotty power means you have to work fast!)

A workshop on Clinical Trials for Drug Resistant Tuberculosis was convened from June 10 - 12 in Cambridge, MA. A large group of scientists, practitioners, activists, donors, and regulatory experts from around the world came together to map out a strategic plan for conducting clinical trials to improve the management of DR-TB. As a member of the GHDonline team, I joined the workshop to introduce the idea of using an online community to support the group’s work. The differences in professional areas and geographic areas made for a dynamic and comprehensive discussion.

One of our GHD collaborators will be Duncan Smith-Rohrberg Maru with Nyaya Health who is building a health center in rural Nepal. The health center will be in the town of Saphe Bagar, Achham in the remote region of Far Western Nepal. This region has been ravaged by years of civil war and their health system is decimated. There is one doctor for almost a half a million people. Maternal and child mortality is extremely high.

If you haven't seen this already, take a few minutes to play with this online tool called the Gapminder. It takes data like the changes in life expectancy and number of doctors per 1000 for each country and shows it as an animation. One of the saddest things to see is the life expectancy of the African countries (blue dots). While life expectancy continues to rise for most of the world, you'll see it plummets in Africa starting in the mid 80s as the AIDS epidemic hits. Go to the Gapminder site for better access to the tool.

SF Gate article talking about the impact of Mountains Beyond Mountains on students' attitudes about global health

November 1, 2007
My travel partners from PIH arrived in Kigali on Monday and drove out to the Rwinkwavu hospital. Here are some observations and thoughts about where the communities of practice can be most valuable. I'll update this throughout the week as I talk to more people.

Photos: Overview of PIH in Rwanda

To make it easier to visualize the Rwandan health system, here's an overview of how the 8 million Rwandans are organized into different health regions.