Diasporas take on global health
Joanna Ashworth, SFU Centre for Sustainable Community Development, 604.317.9202; joanna_ashworth@sfu.ca
Shaheen Nanji, SFU International, 778.782.5576 shaheen_nanji@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.3210
Pre-registration required: http://bit.ly/gH6F6j
Improving global health is the focus of the next in a series of dialogues at Simon Fraser University bringing together the general public and leaders of diaspora communities.
Academics, students, policy makers, health researchers and practitioners, as well as those concerned about global health and interested in the role disasporas could play, will participate in the dialogue on March 16, 6:30-9:30 p.m. at SFU Vancouver's Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
They dialogue will examine how diasporas are working to improve global health, and how Vancouver based initiatives are transforming health practices, systems and institutions with their global reach.
SFU is leading a two-year public dialogue series as a way to bring together to tap into the potential for global change.
The dialogues, organized around the UN Millennium development goals , focus on initiatives that address poverty reduction and economic growth, global health, education, peace and human security and, diasporic contributions to international development.
An interdisciplinary advisory group of SFU faculty, graduate students and community leaders provide guidance and input.
"As I learn about the many disapora-driven projects based here in Vancouver, I have noticed that many begin in a region or community that is known to the project leaders because of their trans-local connections, but after time and with success and growing confidence, the projects expand their efforts into other regions, " she dialogue co-director Joanne Ashworth.
Diasporas are matching the realities and needs of their home communities with the necessary knowledge and resources, and producing formidable results, notes co-director Shaheen Nanji .
The event is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and presented in partnership with SFU, CUSO-VSO and the B.C. Council for International Education .
Event speakers:
• Shafique Pirani , principle organizer and driving force of the Uganda Sustainable Clubfoot Care Project (USCCP).
• Mohammad Zaman (PhD Manitoba), social safeguard/resettlement specialist and executive director of the Society for Bangladesh Climate Justice
• Marj Ratel , Vancouver-based neuroscience nurse who founded Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foundation (KBNF) in 2000 with a particular focus on Ghana and the West Africa region.
• Derek Agyapong-Poku , KBNF 's vice president; president of Excellence in Africa Neuroscience and Health and the Canada-Ghana Liaison .
• Lyren Chiu is founder and president of the Canadian Research Institute of Spirituality and Healing and has 25 years experience and training in both mental health care and spirituality.
• Steven Pi, president of Hands Around the World , a non-profit organization that has mobilized the Chinese diaspora in Vancouver and other supporters to take on projects in China. Most recently the group has worked with local partners to humanize drug rehab treatment and address the social stigma of AIDs in China.