[Health] OLPC Health Projects

[Samuel Klein]

Dear Kirsten  and Julia,

There have been enough health related discussions and projects to
warrant its own discussion list, and occasional meetings by phone and
in person.  You should start with that list -- copied here.

SJ

On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 3:05 PM, Kirsten Austad <keaustad at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Mika and SJ,
>
>     Ben, thanks so much for putting us in touch!  I am adding another person
> to the conversation, one of my classmates Julia who was extensive global
> health experience and worked with the Partners in Health program in Rwanda
> and has lived in various places in the Americas.  We were talking about the
> possibilities today of utilizing OLPC for global health, and are both very
> excited.  We would love to meet with either or both of you--Mika and SJ--to
> discuss what you guys have thought about in the health applications of OLPC,
> what Julia and I have been brainstorming, and if there is someway for us to
> get invovled (both here in the U.S. or on-site).
>
>     We are at the Longwood Medical Campus near the Brigham, but can travel
> over to Cambridge if that is where both of you are based.  Our schedules are
> variable at this time due to Anatomy Lab, but if you two want to throw some
> days and times out there we can surely find one that works.  Looking forward
> to it!
>
> ~Kirsten
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Kirsten Austad
> MD Candidate, Harvard Medical School, Class of 2012
> BS, Medical Microbiology & Immunology and English Literature, University of
> Wisconsin-Madison, 2007
> cell: 608-209-1001
> e-mail: Kirsten_Austad at hms.harvard.edu or keaustad at gmail.com
>
> "We should not go to the people and say, 'Here we are. We come to give you
> the charity of our presence, to teach you our science, to show you your
> errors, your lack of culture, your ignorance of elementary things.' We
> should go instead with an inquiring mind and a humble spirit to learn at
> that great source of wisdom that is the people."   - Che Guevara
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 2:19 PM, Benjamin M. Schwartz
> <bmschwar at fas.harvard.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Kirsten,
>>
>> I am writing to introduce you to Mika and SJ.  Mika is an MPH (?) student
>> at HSPH. SJ is OLPC's "Director of Content" or something.
>>
>> Kirsten is an MD student at HMS.  She has experience working in clinics
>> and in education in Ghana and the Dominican Republic, and is interested in
>> doing curriculum design and evaluation with OLPC.  She has a travel grant
>> through HMS (?) that she could use to travel to a deployment, implement,
>> and evaluate such a curriculum... and that's just the beginning.
>>
>> Mika wrote her MPH thesis on an ethical approach to determining which
>> medicines are "essential" in developing countries.  She has become one of
>> the organizing leaders of the OLPC health projects.
>>
>> SJ is OLPC's "Director of Content" or something like that.  He is
>> responsible for OLPC's curriculum projects, and can definitely put you in
>> touch with the right people in the right countries.
>>
>> Some resources to be aware of:
>> As of today, it is possible to buy an XO in the US for $400, $200 of which
>> is a tax-deductible charitable donation (not that grad students typically
>> itemize deductions...).  Info about that program is available at
>> http://www.amazon.com/xo
>>
>> If you think you need an XO for an OLPC-related project, but can't afford
>> to buy one, you can apply to the Contributors program at
>> http://projectdb.olpc.at/index.php?register=1.  (For curriculum
>> development, you probably don't actually need an XO.)
>>
>> The OLPC Health wiki pages are at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Health.
>> There's a great deal of information there, but it is terribly
>> disorganized, and since it's a public wiki its contents reflect the
>> priorities of many different authors.
>>
>> There is a mailing list for OLPC health-related discussion at
>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/health.  That's a good place to ask
>> questions, though you're also welcome to ask any of us directly.
>>
>> That's all for now, I think.  Welcome to OLPC!
>>
>> --Ben
>>
>>
>
>