Focused on international development, global health and health policy, Doctors with Africa CUAMM’s magazine Health and Development is published in Italian and English. It views health as critical to sustainable development, and features articles on our work in the field and good practices learned as well as commentary by international experts.
An online edition of the magazine is also available. It includes further pieces on these topics in addition to the articles offered in the print edition.
A new book that ponders and moves beyond the common conception of health as something merely “reparative”, encouraging readers to explore the myriad linkages between it and the wider world: climate, environment, economy, competing interests. Only by taking a global approach will we be able to build and take responsibility for a new world.
Educating people on active civic engagement is one of the tools available to us for raising their awareness about the enormous challenges that lie ahead and fostering a sense of respect and responsibility toward the planet. CUAMM is especially committed to developing the public’s understanding of global health issues and training people to become driving forces for change.
Millions of adolescents lag behind their peers in wealthier parts ofthe world,deprived of health care and an adequate education, with an often serious impact on their futures.The hardest hit are those from sub-SaharanAfrica,one ofthe mostinsecure places for young people from a health perspective.Itis our duty to support prevention and treatment activities in order to ensure a better quality of life for them.
Almost everywhere, the migration issue has been used to condition the poorest social strata, those hardest hit by the ongoing socio-economic crisis, people whose material and non-material resources continue to shrink day after day. Who and what is responsible for their anger? “Political entrepreneurs of fear” and the tearing down of the welfare state.
As part of its projects aimed at promoting health on the ground, the Italian Medical Students’Association (SISM) conducts peer education activities in Italian high schools, using informal education techniques to raise awareness among young people on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and human rights.
As part of SISM’s work using the peer education method, we recently held four meetings on sexual and emotional education for our young guests at Casa Murri.
Some 3,000 young people die around the world every day due to preventable causes including injuries, violence and infections. Many of the health risks that affect adolescents are due to the lack of health education available to them, yet they are rarely able to find and interact with individuals able to support them in this regard.
In Uganda a very high percentage of the population is between the ages of 10 and 19, which means that there is often insufficient protection and care for the country’s youth. The worst affected are girls and young women, many of whom are forced to drop out of school due to early pregnancy – a still-widespread phenomenon which has a dire impact on their lives.
Comprising a third of the Mozambican population, adolescents are a particularly fragile category in a country where HIV prevalence is one of the highest in the world. For several years Doctors with Africa CUAMM has been helping to support clinics in Beira that provide health services to young people aged between 10 and 24, including reproductive health and HIV treatment.
Doctors with Africa CUAMM is taking part in a project to fight malaria in Sierra Leone’s Port Loko district. It involves young people and adolescents who are playing a key role in designing and assessing initiatives aimed at improving the community’s ability to identify, treat and prevent the disease.