McGill doctor invited by WHO to the 3rd Global Forum on Human Resources for Health
Dr. Anne Andermann was recently invited by the World Health Organization to present her innovative research on the CLEAR toolkit as a satellite symposium at the 3rd Global Forum on Human Resources for Health in Recife, Brazil in November 2013.
The CLEAR toolkit is the first training tool developed to provide community health workers in low and middle income countries with practical skills on how to take a broader view when treating patients. The toolkit guides health workers in: a) Treating the immediate health problem, b) Asking about underlying social problems, c) Referring to local social support services, and d) Advocating for more supportive environments.
Dr. Andermann will be leading the symposium which will include a presentation by Ms. Hannah Sarah Dini, Program Manager of the 1 Million Community Health Workers Campaign, an initiative developed by Prof Jeffrey Sachs at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. As well, there will also be a presentation by Dr. Anila Naz, an obstetrician and former trainer of Lady Health Workers (i.e. community health workers) in Pakistan, who has an MPH from Emory University and is currently enrolled in the Masters in Family Medicine at McGill University.
The forum which is being co-sponsored by the Government of Brazil, the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization will bring together over 1,500 participants including Heads of State, Ministries of Health and Finance, leading Civil Society Organisations, international experts, health professionals, researchers and policy makers. The theme of the forum is “Human Resources for Health: Foundation for Universal Health Coverage and the Post-2015 Development Agenda” (http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/forum/2013/en/index.html).
Dr. Anne Andermann is a family doctor, a public health physician and author of Evidence for Health: From Patient Choice to Global Policy (CUP, 2013). She works as a Medical Specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Health Canada’s Quebec Regional Office, a Public Health Physician at the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay Northern Quebec, Chair of the Community Oriented Primary Care Committee at St Mary’s Hospital, Chair of Public Health for the new undergraduate medical curriculum at McGill Medical School, and Founding Director of the CLEAR Collaboration, which aims to help frontline health workers address the social causes underlying poor health particularly in low and middle income countries (www.mcgill.ca/clear).
