Before I share my topic for this blog, I have an admission to make. I am a lousy blogger. This blog entry is long overdue. I deeply believe in blogging and the incredible power of personal narrative, but am having a hard time keeping it fresh. I invite suggestions from veteran bloggers to let me know how they manage to do their day jobs and still keep their blog novel.
Today’s blog is about global health. Last month, I took my first ever trip across the Pacific to visit four Asian countries. Although it was very hard to be away from the office, and my family, I can honestly say that this trip changed my view of health marketing and public health forever. My deepest thanks to Melinda Frost, MA, MPH, NCHM’s Global Health Communication and Marketing Lead, for her dedication and leadership in what I feel is an important emerging program for NCHM.
In Beijing, I met with amazing people who work for China’s Ministry of Health, US CDC, the US Embassy, UNICEF, and WHO and learned about the great work in HIV/AIDS prevention, epidemiology and laboratory fellowships, avian influenza, and health communication currently underway in China. I was particularly honored to meet Dr. Ray Yip, lead for CDC’s Global AIDS program in China. Dr. Yip and I discussed the significant stigma attached to people with HIV in China, a problem the US largely overcame many years ago. Reducing HIV-related stigma is partially a health marketing problem so I suggested to Dr. Yip that China needs its own Magic Johnson, whose acknowledgment of HIV forever changed how Americans view the disease and people who live with it. This comment brought an animated response from Dr. Yip, who pointed to a framed poster on his wall featuring Magic Johnson playing one-on-one with Chinese hero Yao Min. The Chinese text on the poster noted that HIV cannot be transmitted by casual contact and that people with HIV should not be feared. A copy of this wonderful poster will soon grace our walls at NCHM and I sincerely hope NCHM’s global health marketing program can collaborate with Dr. Yip to assist with his efforts to prevent HIV transmission and reduce stigma for HIV+ people throughout China.
Another highlight from Beijing was the time spent with our counterparts from the Chinese Ministry of Health and China CDC, Dr. Lei Zhenglong and Dr. Feng Zijian, with whom NCHM is working on projects to test avian influenza public messages and to develop national risk and emergency communication guidance that can be applied at the provincial and country levels. China is an amazing country with breakneck growth that seems poised in our lifetime to take its place among the world’s great powers. I was honored to spend time with these talented and dedicated professionals who sincerely care about their staff and colleagues and are driven by a desire to make a positive difference for their citizens.
The next stop on the trip was Singapore, where we met with Dr. Rod Hoff from the HHS-funded REDI Center (http://www.redi.org.sg/) to discuss opportunities for risk communication collaboration and presented on health marketing to the Singapore Ministry of Health and our host Dr. Bob Bernstein. Then came Putrajaya, Malaysia (30 minutes outside Kuala Lumpur) for an eHealth conference associated with eAsia 2007 (http://www.e-asia.org/). Finally, Bangkok, Thailand to meet with Dr. Susan Maloney along with current and former CDC employees to discuss collaborations, including an upcoming risk communication training for Thai laboratorians in Summer 2007. I will blog more on these parts of the trip in the next few weeks-there is far too much to share in one posting.
One take home message for me from this trip was a better understanding why so many talented people are passionate about global health. In developing countries, there is a great need for public health measures and professionals there are not obsessed with disciplinary labels, in fighting, and turf wars that sometimes hold back emerging areas like health communication and marketing. People simply want to learn and apply best practices to improve and save people’s lives. It is easy to see how working with open-minded people from locations with vulnerable and underserved populations is so important, and so attractive to so many.
Based on my experiences on this trip, I am absolutely certain that health communication and marketing will continue to grow as a core component of effective global health, and I am hopeful that NCHM will be a strong collaborator and servant leader in this endeavor.