A Focus on Ethics in Global-Health Programs

By Jill Raufman, M.S., M.P.H., Ten years ago I was working with some friends on a joint project at the Central Nairobi YMCA. In a park on the outskirts of town one afternoon, I watched as a group of kids from a nearby orphanage--dressed up in party clothes--came into the area with a group of non-Kenyan sponsors. The well-meaning adults had their arms around some of the children and were clearly trying to show them a fun time. All seemed well, but what I will never forget is the look of fear and discomfort on the faces of the children. The sponsors were clearly "voluntourists"--vacationers working on behalf of "good causes." Their intentions might have been good, but I could tell from the children's faces that they felt completely uncomfortable. My experience in Kenya played a major factor in my decision to work in the global-health field. At Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Global Health Center, I was pleased to meet medical students passionate about the field. Later, as director of the Global Health Fellowship program (through which some 100 medical students participate in global-health projects each year), I came to see how important cultural humility is to the overall student global-health experience. Cultural humility, as I once heard noted medical anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer say at a conference, is recognizing that one cannot even think about being culturally competent until one has lived in a place for about 20 years. It is a continual process that, in the co...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news