Calling all international medical graduates
Whether you’re a member who attended medical school abroad or a U.S.-based pediatrician looking to deepen your understanding of and connections to colleagues on global child health issues, the provisional Section on International Medical Graduates (IMGs) welcomes new participants.
The section currently has 545 members. Its mission is to optimize skills and position of international medical graduates to improve the health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. The section’s goals include:
- identifying and engaging the IMG population,
- increasing leadership roles of IMGs within the Academy,
- increasing their participation within activities that support local and global disaster relief efforts and workforce, and
- providing mentorship and guidance for early-career IMGs.
All national membership categories — Fellows, Candidate Members, International Members, Resident Members — with an interest in IMG matters are eligible to join. There is no cost. For details, visit http://bit.ly/1kWpFIB.
Global health curriculum toolkit
The AAP Section on International Child Health webpage houses a compendium of resources developed by pediatric global health educators. Materials include a guidebook on global health training, a handbook on ethics and global health, links to a number of university resources such as curriculum and educational offerings and content, global health track opportunities and certificate programs, packing checklists and health/safety guidance. Visit http://www2.aap.org/sections/ich/SGHCToolkit.html.
Global health webinars for residents
The Global Child Health Educational Modules Project is offering several webinars to prepare residents planning for an international rotation. Modules are used for study and include case-based scenarios and preset learning objectives covering clinical and humanistic perspectives. Modules include:
- Culture: The Original Vital Sign: http://bit.ly/1NMKgIS
- Neonatal and Maternal Health: http://bit.ly/1MCsXgr
- Non-Medical (Socioeconomic) Determinants of Health: http://bit.ly/1LMbwGS
AAP to U.N.: Ensure all children are counted
The Academy along with more than 50 signatory organizations issued an open letter (http://bit.ly/1PX8h2a) asking the United Nations to leave no child behind in the post-2015 global development agenda. The U.N. adopted the agenda in September to help define a framework for the world’s development that includes as its top agenda item: “Leave no person behind.”
Medical, academic, social and governmental organizations were represented in the letter “All Children Count but Not All Children Are Counted.” Two recommendations are offered:
- Ensure children living outside of households and/or without parental care are represented in disaggregated data.
- Improve and expand data collection methodologies to ensure all children are represented.
Many countries offer limited data on the number of children living in such circumstances, leading to “scattered estimates,” the letter states. Excluding children living without parental care could lead to missed opportunities for interventions.
Signatories are urging the U.N. to make sure the data collected reflect goals and definitions included in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.N. Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“Some of the world’s most vulnerable children — those without parental care or at risk of being so; in institutions or on the street; trafficked; separated from their families as a result of conflict, disaster or disability; or recruited into armed groups — have largely fallen off the U.N.’s statistical map,” according to the letter. “Indeed, all children count, but not all children are counted.”
