Lessons from Rwanda: The intersection of care abroad and at home

When it comes time to build or reinforce health care infrastructure in resource-poor areas of the world, what role should aiding physicians play—and what can they learn in the process? “Global is all the world, not only Africa or … foreign countries,” said Agnes Binagwaho, MD, PhD, the minister of health in Rwanda, in a podcast interview featured in the July issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics®. Similar disparities at home and abroad An article featured in this month’s issue, “Why U.S. health care should think globally,” suggests that learning from practitioners in resource-poor settings can help allopathic physicians connect with local and global populations and motivate reciprocity. “Successful health care systems in low-resource settings are designed to target and serve the poor in ways that are contextually appropriate, addressing social, cultural and economic barriers to care,” the authors said. “These systems have already learned how to make efficient use of limited resources.” Methods developed for or in low-resource settings abroad also can be used in the U.S. to address inequalities in health status and health care, access and quality. Two tools developed abroad, a low-cost ventilator and a mobile-based flow cytometer used to diagnose some infections and cancers, are already being used in the U.S. What we learned from Rwanda In her podcast interview, Dr. Binagwaho detailed how further development of the health care system in Rwan...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news