I had the good fortune to be a respondent for the opening plenary at the Caribbean HIV Prevention Conference at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas, a choice of location that seemed rather odd and extravagant given the seriousness of the event, particularly its goal of […]
Cuba is a land of contrasts. A totalitarian regime ruling over a friendly, open people. Extreme poverty by American standards, coupled with effective public health efforts. An educated public that often cannot put its education to use. Cuba: A mix of low technology such as cars from the […]
I had the great fortune to visit Cuba as a US delegate of the American Public Health Association (APHA). I was struck by the beauty of the island, the warmth of the people and by the high sense of pride and adoration of heroes. Everywhere one turned you […]
At a Happy-hour “Goodbye” outing last night, many of us at the table (with our basil lemonades in hand) pondered the question what happens now after the International AIDS Conference. What changed and what changes are to come? Are we going back to the humdrum of old? Was […]
I have been a bit unhappy with academics as of late, in particular, the “parachuters” who occasionaly drop into the community and call themselves community researchers. In the interest of fairness, I feel I have to turn the same critical eye on the sordid underbelly of community based […]
Last week’s buzzword at the International AIDS Conference is marriage. Not the gay marriage debate currently raging in the United States, but rather the marriage of biomedical advances with behavioral interventions as the next step forward in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Certainly, biomedical advances alone are not enough, […]
To quote the Beatles, “they say there’s gonna be a revolution”, when it comes to social media and HIV. Or maybe it’s already happened. Wikileaks, the Arab Spring (turning out to not be so Spring-like), and the various Occupy movements certainly demonstrate that social media, in which we […]
Brazilian cardinal Claudio Hummes once said, “We know that social exclusion is closely tied to the new economic world order, globalized, with free and open markets, which isn’t bringing prosperity or social justice to all.” The degenerative effects of this social exclusion even extend to public health. How else […]
Okay, listen up conference attendees, I don’t often assume the mantle of Miss Manners and discuss etiquette, but this is where you’ve driven me. Here’s the background. I work out. I don’t love to work out, but I do like to be able to fit into my dresses. […]
As a working mother, my immediate awareness extends to what meetings I have today, the resolution to the latest office crises, the next presentation I have to make, whether my husband or I are meeting the babysitter, and whether my toddler is testing the theory that he can […]
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