ASCP Participates in Global Health Council Conference
ASCP staff Marie Lehner, Alisa Tank and Andrea Bennett represented ASCP Global Outreach and ASCPi from May 26-29 at the Global Health Council 36th Annual Conference, which took place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC. The theme of this year’s conference was “New Technologies + Proven Strategies = Healthy Communities.”
One booth had a TV with a documentary on women’s rights and abortion in Ethiopia playing on repeat, another showcased beaded necklaces meant to be used as a tool for women to track their menstrual cycle as a natural form of family planning, yet others had cell phones and computers documenting new technology used for communication in developing countries and still others diagramed the path that newly developed drugs take through a patient’s body in order to fight disease. These booths were all in the exhibition hall at the Global Health Council’s 36th Annual Conference. Over 500 organizations, including ASCP, were present representing the role each plays in global health. ASCP’s booth attracted attention from those interested in laboratory medicine and infrastructure and those recognizing the importance the role the laboratory plays in diagnosing and treating HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Most attendees work in resource- limited countries around the world, many of them the same ones in which ASCP has a presence. Wandering through the exhibition hall, one could hear multiple languages being spoken, French, English, and Kiswahili, among others. This eclectic, international crowd is clearly passionate about issues surrounding global health and the health of people in their own communities. Each attendee had an interesting story and has been witness to health issues both appalling and inspiring.
In addition to the exhibition hall, the conference also consisted of multiple sessions with preeminent scholars presenting their research and projects. The topics of these sessions included “Get the Scoop on Poop” where four panelists discussed their research on diarrheal diseases—not a very glamorous field but an incredibly important one, as diarrheal diseases are the second highest cause of death among children in sub-Saharan Africa; “On the Move: Mobile Health” in which presenters discussed the multiple ways in which SMS messages and other forms of mobile phone technology can drastically increase the numbers of people receiving information on test results and medication; and “Gender Perspectives” where all panelists espoused the current belief that the most effective way to increase a woman’s access to health care is to educate the men in her family about why this health care is important.
The conference was not only an interesting chance to learn more about other organizations doing work similar and complimentary to ASCP, but also to spread the word in the global health community about ASCP’s continued work in laboratory strengthening around the world.