On March 30, Aga Khan Foundation Canada hosted the Canadian launch of Health and Poverty, Global Health Problems and Solutions with author Dr. Gijs Walraven, Director of the Aga Khan Health Services.
Drawing on twenty years working in community health in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Dr. Walraven discussed the complex links between health and poverty in poor countries, and offered solutions, based on experience and innovation, to some of the most critical healthcare challenges of the 21st century.
In North America, we are “victims of our own success,” Dr. Walraven explained. The burden of disease has become one of opulence, and our focus is curative rather than preventative. “We need a different approach in the developing world,” he cautioned.
To achieve better results in preventative medicine, Dr. Walraven spoke to the importance of creating thoughtful health systems that are regional in nature. In addition, they “need to break away from silos,” he said, and focus on multi-input area development. Health initiatives alone are insufficient – to be truly effective, they need to be combined with programming in water and sanitation, education, and nutrition.
Earlier during the day, Aga Khan Foundation Canada and the Canadian Red Cross co-hosted a small luncheon in honour of Dr. Walraven’s visit. Mr. Conrad Sauvé, Secretary General and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross moderated a conversation that spanned the breadth of health initiatives, ranging from discussion on the importance of health systems, experiments with micro-health insurance and community savings groups, and health financing.
Addtional Reading: Improving Maternal and Child Health in Difficult Environments: The Case for 'Cross-Border' Health, by Gijs Walraven, Semira Manaseki-Holland, Abid Hussain, John Tomaro. PLoS Medicine, January 2009.
About the Author
Gijs Walraven, MD MPH PhD, is Director of Community Health at the Delegation of the Aga Khan Development Network in Aiglemont, France. In this role, he has direct programme responsibility for the Aga Khan Health plus Planning and Building Service Companies which are located in South and Central Asia, East Africa and the Middle East. Dr. Walraven is also Visiting Professor in Community Health Sciences at the Aga Khan University in Karachi. Gijs Walraven joined the Aga Khan Development Network in 2003. Before this he worked for a period of 15 years in Africa in health care provision, management and research, with a major emphasis on maternal, reproductive and child health, and district health systems. Immediately before joining His Highness' Secretariat, he was Head of Farafenni Field Station of the UK Medical Research Council Laboratories in The Gambia, West Africa. Before this he was Medical Officer and Medical Superintendent of Sumve Designated District Hospital and Health Coordinator of the Archdiocese of Mwanza, North-West Tanzania. Gijs Walraven has published more than 120 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. He is also the author of 'Health and Poverty: Global health problems and solutions' (Earthscan, London, October 2010).
