November 2011
Professors Mike Wessells and Lindsay Stark recently completed ethnographic work in Sierra Leone that mapped existing community-based child protection mechanisms and their linkage with the government led aspects of the national child protection system. This was the initial step in inter-agency action research to strengthen community-based child protection mechanisms in Sierra Leone as well as in Kenya, where the ethnographic research will begin in early 2012. Dr. Wessells recently participated in an inter-agency think tank conducted in Nairobi on strengthening national child protection systems as a prelude to a larger meeting next May that will involve governments from different parts of Africa.
New artilcle published on “The impact of the school-based Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program on conflict-affected children in northern Uganda” by Alastair Ager, Bree Akesson, Lindsay Stark, Eirini Flouri, Braxton Okot, Faith McCollister, and Neil Boothby. And accompanying editorial "Context and conduct, and accessibility in scientific reporting".
October 2011
Professor Jim Phillips and his work in Ghana is discussed in this New York Times article Talking Their Way Out of a Population Crisis.
September 2011
Lindsay Stark reviews the book 'Sexual Violence and Armed Conflcit' by Janie L. Leatherman in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA). Read the review here.
August 2011
Lindsay Stark and Alastair Ager, led the first comprehensive field-test of the new Child Protection Rapid Assessment (CPRA) toolkit developed by the global protection cluster’s Child Protection Working Group (CPWG). The assessment – conducted in Indonesia between mid-June and late-July - was focused on communities affected by the eruption of the Merapi volcano in late 2010. The assessment in Central Java was conceived not only as a means to provide feedback on the effectiveness and operation of the assessment tool but, critically, to equip Indonesian personnel with the competencies to complete such an assessment in the context of a future rapid-onset emergency. Read more here.
July 2011
Neil Boothby and Alastair Ager will lead a study on Global Surveillance System for Attacks on Education. The research will be funded by Education Above All, a Qatar-based policy research and advocacy organization, and will study how to move from the present fragmented monitoring situation to a system that is structured and coordinated. The study aims to provide an advanced understanding of the issues pertaining to the protection of education from attack and a more robust evidence base for: research; identified good practices; improved programming; strengthened policy formulation; increased accountability and diminished impunity; and, enhanced advocacy for each of the above objectives. Read more here and on the ASPH site.
June 2011
"The impact of the school-based Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program on conflict-affected children in northern Uganda" by Alastair Ager, Bree Akesson, Lindsay Stark et al. This robust evaluation of a locally implemented, NGO psychosocial evaluation - with one year follow-up - is to be published online ahead of print publication in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry later this year.
From June 7th-8th, Lindsay Stark led a 2-day training on measuring violence against children to a high-level government task force in Jakarta, Indonesia. This training was undertaken as part of a collaboration between the UNICEF, CDC and the Center on Child Protection to support the Government of Indonesia to undertake the first national prevalence study on violence against children.
Alastair Ager's Study Recognized as Contributing to Global Profile of Work with Refugees
With the rapid increase in the number of scientific papers produced every year – and an increasing number of journals available in print and online, there is growing attention to the concept of the ‘impact factor’ of journals. This is a measure of the influence of work, by looking at the number of times a paper is cited by other researchers as influential on their own thinking.
The work of Dr Alastair Ager, a researcher with the Program on Forced Migration & Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, was recently singled out by the editors of the Journal of Refugee Studies as one of the greatest influences on the journal’s increasing impact factor. Dr Ager’s study of integration processes impacting the resettlement of refugees (with Dr Alison Strang of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh) was one of the most cited studies in the journal’s history. The editors of the journal, Joanne van Selm and Khalid Koser, have established free global online access to the paper in recognition of its significance in conceptualising migrant integration. (Access the article here for free along with other top cited articles).
A recent Special Issue of the Journal of Refugee Studies – the leading academic journal in its field – has focused on international experience related to refugee integration, using the conceptual framework proposed by Ager & Strang in their 2008 study as key point of reference. The Special Issue concludes with a paper by Drs. Ager and Strang summarizing recent developments in the field and identifying key issues that warrant further research and policy attention.
‘Learning of the broad influence of our work is a great pleasure’ noted Dr Ager. ‘Our study sought to develop a framework accessible to policymakers, agencies and, indeed, refugees themselves, rather than just the research community. It is crucial that researchers commit to making their work relevant to users, especially when the focus of the research – as here – is on the factors that impede or support the well-being of vulnerable and marginalized communities.’ Read more at ASPH's site.
May 2011
Professor Richard Garfield and Courtney Blake, MPH 2010 wrote "Common Needs Assessments and humanitarian action" published by the Humanitarian Practice Network in April 2011. Read the article here.
Professors Neil Boothby and Michael Wessells have been asked to serve as senior advisors for a multi institutional effort to develop Uganda’s first nationally accredited child protection training course and capacity building program. The certificate program aims to provide knowledge and skills on a range of issues regarding the prevention and response to child rights violations. The rationale underlying this certificate program hinges on the fact that different organizations and institutions have developed parallel child protection training programs and materials that are not standardized in content and methodology. The goal of this certificate program is therefore to help institutionalize and standardize knowledge of child protection issues in Uganda, targeting both intending practitioners and those already in practice.
Neil Boothby Completes 39 Country Study on Education in Emergencies and Fragile States. Read more.
Neil Boothby leads feasibility study on establishing a global surveillance system for attacks on education. Read more.
"The impact of the school-based Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program on conflict-affected children in northern Uganda" by Alastair Ager, Bree Akesson, Lindsay Stark et al. This robust evaluation of a locally implemented, NGO psychosocial evaluation - with one year follow-up - is to be published online ahead of print publication in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry later this year.
Lindsay Stark was recognized for the best dissertation in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences (SMS) addressing a problem related to social inequality. This is awarded by the Center for the Study of Social Inequalities and Health, housed in the Departments of SMS and Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. One prize is awarded every year to an SMS student and to an Epidemiology student.
April 2011
Program alumni Alina Potts and Kathleen Myer and Professor Les Roberts's article "Measuring human rights violations in a conflict-affected country: results from a nationwide cluster survey in Central African Republic" is published in Conflict and Health.
Alastair Ager was invited to chair, and act as discussant, for a panel on ‘Institutional Framework and Multilateral Cooperation’ at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research meeting Migration and Youth: Overcoming Health Challenges, at UN Headquarters, New York, 28 April 2011. The seminar was part of the Migration and Development Series Seminar organized by UNITAR in collaboration with the IOM, UNFPA and the MacArthur Foundation.
Lindsay Stark and Alastair Ager publish an article "A Systematic Review of Prevalence Studies of Gender-Based Violence in Complex Emergencies" in the journal Trauma, Violence, and Abuse.
Lindsay Stark received the Award for Excellence in Global Health for a doctoral student. This award recognizes an outstanding doctoral student in the field of global health at the Mailman School of Public Health. Mailman faculty nominated Dr. Stark because of her accomplishments during her matriculation at Mailman.
Lindsay Stark was awarded the Marisa De Castro Benton Dissertation Award for an outstanding contribution to the sociomedical sciences for her dissertation "From Incidents to Incidence: Measuring Sexual Violence Amidst War and Displacement".
March 2011
Joanne Csete writes article "Human Rights and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria."
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a crucial actor in the worldwide response to HIV. In less than ten years, it not only has provided billions of dollars for AIDS programs, but it has also created processes and collaborations that have opened doors to meaningful participation in public health programs for people living with and vulnerable to HIV. Read the whole article here.
Program alumni Alina Potts and Kathleen Myer and Professor Les Roberts's article "Measuring human rights violations in a conflict-affected country: results from a nationwide cluster survey in Central African Republic" is published in Conflict and Health.
February 2011
Oxford Studies in Compartive Education and Symposium Books have just published a book called "Education, Conflict and Development" featuring a chapter by Maureen Murphy, Lindsay Stark, Michael Wessells, Neil Boothby & Alastair Ager. The chapter is called "Fortifying Barriers: sexual violence as an obstacle to girls’ school participation in Northern Uganda" and can be accessed here.
January 2011
Mike Wessells and Lindsay Stark co-led a two-week training on ethnographic research methods in Sierra Leone as part of the first phase of an interagency collaboration to map linkages between community-based child protection mechanisms and national child protection systems.
"There has been a massive influx of international volunteers and organizations," says Richard Garfield, a professor at Columbia University's School of Public Health. "But those actions are largely short-term, and what will make a real difference is jobs and governance." Read the article in Scientific American here.
Richard Garfield and Brian Hoyer discuss the situation in Haiti one year after the earthquake. See the story here.
Professor Richard Garfield argues that improved coordination and access to treatment are necessary to prevent catastrophic spread of cholera in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Read the article here.
December 2010
Les Roberts writes about "Advancing Humanitarian Aid: Infusing the era of hope with a dash of accountability" in Health G20: A briefing on health issues for G20 leaders.
New publications by Program faculty:
Just accepted for publishing:
Stark, L. & Ager, A. (in press) "A Systematic Review of Prevalence Studies of Gender Based Violence in Complex Emergencies". Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.
The final integrative paper in a special edition of the journal looking at refugee integration with respect to the framework that Alison Strang and Alastair Ager published ("Understanding Integration: A Conceptual
Framework") in 2008:
Strang, A. & Ager, A. “Refugee integration: emerging trends and remaining agendas”. Journal of Refugee Studies, 2010, 23 (4), 589-607.
And now, the first article on the Neighborhood Method in print:
Stark, L., Roberts, L, Wheaton, W., Acham, A., Boothby, N. & Ager, A. “Measuring Violence against Women amidst War and Displacement in Northern Uganda Using the ‘Neighborhood Method’”, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 2010, 64 (12).
November 2010
In a public radio interview, Forced Migration faculty member Richard Garfield discusses the current cholera outbreak in Haiti and strategies for preventing cholera after disasters. Listen to the interview here.
Lindsay Stark, working at the University of Indonesia's Center on Child Protection, has joined the emergency response to the Merapi Volcano in Yogyakarta on behalf of the Center in coordination with UNICEF and the Government of Indonesia.
October 2010
Alastair Ager gave a presentation on October 28 to the UN NGO Committee on Families regarding “Postconflict: helping rebuild the family structure". Dr. Ager made the case for the family as a locus for humanitarian intervention. Families fill four key psychosocial functions: provision of an economic foundation for meeting physical needs, fostering basic skills and competencies, fostering social access, transmission of cultural knowledge and values.
Alastair Ager joined a panel hosted by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support and the Permanent Mission of Belgium at the UN Headquarters in New York. This event launched the Advocacy campaign on the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergency Settings. The panel presented a variety of programs and approaches aimed to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being when being confronted with an emergency, such as a natural disaster or armed conflict. Using case studies, the event raised awareness on how the IASC MHPSS guidelines can help programming in different areas of intervention and settings.
September 2010
Weekend mapping exercise hosted by Professor Les Roberts for second year students at his upstate home. Read more.
In a new video produced by the Mailman School of Public Health, Neil Boothby explains the complex forces that impact children during crises. He touches on issues affecting child soldiers during war-time and displaced children after environmental disasters and how Forced Migration students are trained to address those realities. Watch the 5 minute video here.
Richard Garfield coordinates a UN assessment to determine humanitarian needs in response to the flooding in Pakistan. Dr. Garfield
led field surveys in four of the most severely affected provinces in Pakistan to determine short and long term needs for health, water and sanitation, nutrition, agriculture, livelihoods, shelter, and issues affecting women. This ‘combined needs assessment’ is an effort by the international community to jointly set priorities. The data will be used by the U.N. and other organizations. Read the article here.
August 2010
In Geneva, the Global Protection Cluster Information Management Task Force agreed to move Alastair Ager and Lindsay Stark's participative ranking methodology (PRM) from an ‘optional’ to a core methodology for completing rapid protection assessments. UNHCR is leading on this project, which is nested within broader cross-cluster integration of rapid assessments discussions. Check out: Participative Ranking Methodology: A Brief Guide.
Lindsay Stark, DrPH and alumni of the Program on Forced Migration and Health joins the Program as Assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health. Dr. Stark also serves as the Director of Research and Curriculum at the newly founded Center on Child Protection, based at the University of Indonesia. On behalf of the Center on Child Protection, Dr. Stark is leading a piece of research with UNICEF and the Ministry of Social Welfare in Indonesia to measure the prevalence of physical and sexual violence against children to inform country programming and policy.
July 2010
Alastair Ager's article on the Scorecard for Humanitarian Work to Protect Children in Crisis finds Good Foundation in Science, But Could Do Better.
The study published in the July/August 2010 issue of Child Development, provides suggestions of best practices in the field from experts working in senior roles with such international agencies as UNICEF and Save the Children, and responding to humanitarian crises. Read more.
Building on synergies identified in the course of faculty consultations, the Global Health Initiaitve (GHI)
is establishing Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) to
drive the development of new interdisciplinary research relevant to key
emerging issues in the global health arena. Drawing upon expertise of the
Mailman School and its partners, TWGs will seek to establish thought-,
research- and practice- leadership in formulating innovative strategies to
address critical and complex global health challenges.
Neil Boothby, EdD, Director of the Program on Forced Migration and Health
and Allan Rosenfield Professor of Clinical Forced Migration and Health and
Patrick Kinney, ScD, Director of Program in Climate and Health and Associate
Professor of Environmental Health Sciences are to co-convene a TWG
addressing issues of health in crisis. Today the notion of crisis is
beginning to be formulated less in terms of the circumstances that trigger
change and uncertainty, but with greater focus on the systems - social,
institutional, economic - that sustain functioning populations and provide
the core basis for recovery. Recognizing synergies across formerly distinct
areas of study of crisis - such as climate change, conflict, natural
disasters, populations severely impacted by AIDS, this TWG will seek to
bring critical inter-disciplinary capacities from across the School and
university to develop innovative strategies that support resilience and
recovery from humanitarian emergencies.
June 2010
Dr. Moazzem Hossian conducted a Nutrition in Emergencies Basic Training in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This 17 module training was organized by the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka in collaboration with UNICEF. The training was attended by professionals, practitioners and specialists across nine districts of Sri Lanka representing government, non-governmental and international organizations. The content was delivered through presentations, case studies, group work, simulation exercises and interactive discussions. Photos are here and here.
Program on Forced Migration & Health Faculty inform Wellcome Trust Investment in Research to Strengthen the Public Health Response in Disasters and Humanitarian Emergencies
Dr Alastair Ager served on the planning group for the recent (June 29-30, 2010) Wellcome Trust Frontiers Meeting addressing the specific topic of Research to Strengthen the Public Health Response in Disasters and Humanitarian Emergencies. Frontiers Meetings are a means for the Wellcome Trust to engage with key researchers and institutions in a field of study in advance of potential research funding investments. The meeting brought together researchers, humanitarian agency staff and funders from across Europe, the USA, Africa and Asia. The leadership of the PFMH in this field was recognized in the attendance of four professors with appointments with the Program: Drs Alastair Ager, Les Roberts, Ron Waldman and Mike Wessells.
Dr Ager addressed the meeting in the closing session on models of collaboration with a presentation entitled: Collaboration, partnership and effective working: lessons from five years of the CPC initiative. This detailed the evolution of the research , practice and policy engagement between PFMH and partners through the initial CPC Initiative and, latterly, through the CPC Learning Network. The close working between agencies secured through the CPC was recognized as a potential model across the sector. April 2010
Neil Boothby spoke at a symposium on Forced Migration & Refugees/Internally Displaced Persons in Northern California sponsored by the American Red Cross on April 22-24. The symposium included lectures at the Monterey Institute of International Studies; Santa Clara University; University of California, Santa Cruz; and Stanford University Law School.
Moazzem Hossain Mailman professor and Chief of Nutrition and Health with UNICEF Sri Lanka taught a special two-day Advanced Nutrition workshop on April 13-14 at the Mailman School.
Day 1 focused on Nutrition Assessment and Response (in emergency settings)
The first half included a summary of principles of rapid assessment and how they were applied after the earthquake in Pakistan 2005. The second half of the class discussed the nutrition assessment done in Sri Lankan IDP camps post-armed conflict and in a volatile security-concerned area under extreme restricted movement. Nutrition programming as a result of these surveys was discussed.
Day 2 focused on Monitoring Nutrition Programs: Improving Efficiency (in routine and emergency settings)
The first half of this session covered an example from Bangladesh on how large-scale nutrition projects can suffer from poor monitoring & evaluation, and interesting findings from surveys done during and post-flood1998. The second half discussed monitoring nutrition programs in post-conflict IDP camps and how good monitoring can improve the efficiency of nutrition interventions and program strategy and the achievement of sustainable results.
Alastair Ager presented “Lives in Limbo: Re-Imagining Structures and Standards in Refugee Camps” with Operation USA and Rockefeller Foundation at a technical meeting on Health, Human Rights, and Security Within Refugee Camps, April 2, 2010.
March 2010
 From left to right: Dean Bambang Shergi Laksmono, Neil Boothby, Paul Kellner
Dean Bambang Shergi Laksmono of the University of Indonesia and Neil Boothby signed a memorandum of understanding to officially establish the Center on Child Protection at the University of Indonesia.
The Center will work to build the capacity of multidisciplinary faculty, new professionals, and key government and civil society actors to conduct effective child protection programs. In the longer-term, the Center will serve as a catalyst for many more university-based programs throughout Indonesia and beyond.
Les Roberts delivered the keynote address at the "War and Health" conference at Emory University on Saturday, March 27th. This year's theme, “Mind, Body, and Soul” explored the implications of armed conflict on public health, and conceptualized pathways to reconciliation and recovery. Speakers represented the private and public sectors, advocacy groups, and research organizations. Topics included physical trauma, decision-making and resource management in humanitarian crisis settings, mental health and psychosocial implications of war, clinical therapy and treatment approaches to rehabilitation, and cost to infrastructure.
At a special Mailman School of Public Health Grand Rounds on March 1, 2010, Ronald Waldman, Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and Professor of Epidemiology, discussed the U.S. response in Haiti. Dr. Waldman, who served as Coordinator of the U.S. government Medical and Health Emergency Response in Haiti, had just returned from the country where he had been working closely with an inter-agency team to advance relief efforts and the health sector response.
You can read excerpts from his talk here. Watch the video here.
Alastair Ager, Lindsay Stark and second year student Courtney Blake report on Assessing Child Protection in Emergencies: Field Experience Using the Inter-Agency Emergency Child Protection Assessment Resource Toolkit. Access the report here.
February 2010
 Neil Boothby gives a talk at Columbia University's Middle East Research Center (CUMERC) and leads a mapping exercise on establishing a Public Health Institute in conjunction with CUMERC. Agencies, both local and international, were supportive of a systematic public health capacity building effort and mentioned specific areas where there could be great impact. They recognized the need to develop more advanced public health practitioners and thought that a regional Public Health Institute based at CUMERC would be a significant help in professionalizing the field of humanitarian assistance and emergency response
Alastair Ager presented at the Columbia Population Research Center, Conference on Migraton & Immigration, Friday, February 19, 2010:
“Conceptualizing health in relation to integration outcomes and processes: Contrasts and commonalities from studies of forced migrants in the UK and Sierra Leone.”
A chapter by Neil Boothby and Mike Wessells entitled "Education and Protecton of Children and Youth Affected by Armed Conflict: An Essential Link" is published in UNESCO's publication "Protecting Education from Attack".
Neil Boothby writes op-ed regarding child protection issues with "orphaned" children in Haiti. Read the article: Throwing the Babies Out With the Bathwater.
Richard Garfield, Bendixen Professor in the School of Nursing and
the Mailman School of Public Health, was in Haiti advising the
Centers for Disease Control in their role with the UN-led
rapid assessment being carried out and planning for long term reconstruction
of the health system with equipment and staff development for epidemiology,
surveillance, and laboratory sciences. The School of Nursing is
staffing 2 hospitals and 2 clinics in the Port au Prince area.
Garfield is also helping to organize on-going monitoring of health in the
months ahead between CDC, the UN, and the World Bank.
January 2010
Update from Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Ron Waldman, January 28, 2010
I'm in Port-au-Prince serving as the US Governments Corrdinator of the Medical/Health Sector Response to the Haiti Earthquake. The devastation here is incredible. I have seen a lot of disasters, but the destruction of this city is unfathomable. Presidential Palace: destroyed. Cathedral: destroyed. Ministry of Health (and many others): destroyed. Hospitals, clinics, schools, homes: destroyed. The number of dead is difficult to calculate. They say they have enumerated more than 100,000 dead bodies and there are probably that many still buried beneath the rubble. We teach about direct and indirect consequences of disasters and about how they should be approached sequentially, but here both have to be addressed simulatneously. I have never been in a situation with as many injured survivors, since the earthquake struck a densely populated capital city. In the tsunami, which was primarily rural, people either died or survived without relatively light injuries, if any. Here, thousand are in need of orthopedic surgery and are at risk of post-operative infection; they will require further surgical revisions prior to having prosthetics fitted. At the same time, imagine the number of internally displaced people without shelter! Within Port-au-Prince there are over 600 encampments of people with inadequate quantities of food, water, or sanitation facilities. The risk of communicable diseases is quite high and that needs to be dealt with as well. In addition, a very large number of people has fled to the countryside, putting a very heavy burden on a weak health system in the periphery. Third, the task of rebuilding has to begin now. It starts at square one. We can try to schedule a meeting with the Ministry of Health, for example, but where would we meet? There is no Ministry. The idea is not to return Haiti to the status quo ante, since that was a very bad place to be, but rather to try to "build it back better"; a difficult task at best. The relief scene is the usual humanitarian circus, with over 160 health-oriented NGOs registered with the health cluster, with no attempt to discriminate between the more professional and the more amateurish. Still, progress is being made, slowly, slowly.
Ron
Ron Waldman talks to Time Magazine about the earthquake in Haiti and ramifications for the public's health. Sanitation and health care systems are destroyed and millions left without homes. Dr. Waldman underscores the importance of establishing surveillance systems and conducting needs assessments in the Time article "After the Quake Comes the Disease. Can Haiti Cope?"
Mike Wessells and a reference group comprised of members from the Oak Foundation, PULIH Indonesia, Save the Children, UNICEF, USAID_DCOF, and WorldVision International authored a report entitled "What are we learning about protecting children in the community? An inter-agency review of evidence on community-based child protection mechanisms". The review focused specifically on community-based groups that work on children's protection and wellbeing. Please see the full report and executive summary.
Alastair Ager and PhD candidate Lindsay Stark will be presenting at the Child Protection Working Group in Geneva in January on the findings from a structured analysis of field learning regarding use of the Inter-Agency Emergency Child Protection Assessment Resource Toolkit. The analysis was designed to document the strengths and weaknesses of the current Resource Kit in field use. This information was to provide an evidence base for recommended revisions and also to inform other measures necessary to support the emergency assessment process.
Lindsay Stark, Les Roberts, Neil Boothby and Alastair Ager publish an article in the Journal of Epidemiology and Health entitled Measuring Violence Against Women Amidst War and Displacement in Northern Uganda Using the 'Neighborhood Method'
December 2009
Neil Boothby and Mike Wessells spoke at the conference Children & Armed Conflict: Risk, Resilience and Mental Health at the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine in Washington DC on December 7 and 9. This was an interdisciplinary conference addressing the development and mental health needs of children in conflict-affected settings. Dr. Boothby delivered a talk entitled "An Ecological Approach to Children in Armed Conflict" and Dr. Wessells spoke on the topic "Meeting the Needs of Children in Armed Conflict Gender and Community Perspectives."
Les Roberts writes about his summer research in Central African Republic for the One Campaign.
Check out the first, second and third posts.
Professor Les Roberts and students Schuyler Henderson and William Olander published an article entitled "Reporting Iraqi civilian fatalities in a time of war" in the journal Conflict and Health. The premise of the article is based upon the following:
In February, 2007, the Associated Press (AP) conducted a poll of 1,002 adults in the United States about their attitudes towards the war in Iraq. Respondents were remarkably accurate estimating the current death toll of US soldiers, yet were grossly inaccurate in estimating the current death toll of Iraqi civilians. In the spring semester of 2008, Professor Roberts' class Epidemiological Methods for Measuring Human Rights Abuses conducted a search of newspapers to determine the extent of the discrepancy between reporting Coalition and Iraqi civilian deaths, hypothesizing that there would be an over-representation of Coalition deaths compared to Iraqi civilian deaths.
Access the article here.
November 2009
Professors Alastair Ager and Jack Saul spoke with author Brandon Hamber at the launch of his new book "Transforming Societies After Political Violence: Truth, Reconciliation, and Mental Health" at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs on November 11. Other panelists included Ruti Teitel, Professor of Comparative Law at New York University and Graeme Simpson, Director of International Centre for Transitional Justice.
Research conducted by Professor Les Roberts and Program on Forced Migration and Health students Alina Potts and Kathleen Myer uncovers staggeringly high mortality rates in Central African Republic.
Professor Mike Wessells will be the keynote speaker at the International Conference on Trauma Counseling on November 23-24 in Bethlehem, Palestine. The conference entitled "Challenges of Trauma Counseling in Conflicted Areas" gathers Palestinian and international mental health specialists, social workers, counselors, researchers, consultants, students, leaders of organizations working in the field of trauma and mental health, prominent national figures and people interested in learning more about trauma counseling. For more information, please see the invitation.
October 2009
A research team from the Program on Forced Migration & Health has developed an analytic framework for identifying strategies to provide protection for children in the midst of conflict and natural disaster. In a study published in the most recent edition of the journal Disasters, the team reports on using this framework to analyse key risks - and means of addressing them - in the ongoing conflict in Darfur. Dr Alastair Ager, the paper's lead author, noted 'We have taken the idea of the 'protective environment' and developed it as a major analytic tool to consider the source of the key vulnerabilities of children and ways of responding to them. The situation in Darfur clearly creates huge risks for children. Our analysis suggests both short- and long-term actions to respond to these - ranging from improved mechanisms for monitoring and reporting to restoration of traditional structures that served a protective function for chioldren - and our colleagues at UNICEF are now actively engaged in pursuing these.'
Ager, A, Boothby, N, and Bremer, M. (2009) Using the 'protective environment' framework to analyse children's protection needs in Darfur. Disasters, 33 (4), 548-573.
Further information: Dr Alastair Ager, aa2468@columbia.edu or 646 675 7046.
September 2009
Neil Boothby gave the keynote address at the September 28th Paris, France experts summit on ‘Protecting Education from Attack’ sponsored by the Office of Her Highness, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser al-Missned of Qatar. The event aimed at developing a ‘state of the art’ review of this topic in time for the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, when it is anticipated that the wider theme of education in emergencies will receive particular attention. The purpose was to take critical stock of existing research, effective practices and lessons learned, to identify opportunities for strengthening monitoring and reporting of attacks and increasing accountability, and to generate next steps for action and research.
Dr. Grace Kodindo emphasizes the need for reproductive health care in emergencies in the BBC article "Giving Birth in Congo's War Zone." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8242175.stm
Les Roberts writes the opening editorial in the American Journal of Public Health's September issue.
"A Plea For Cost-Effectiveness, or at Least Avoiding Public Health Malpractice"
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/reprint/99/9/1546
August 2009
Dr. Grace Kodindo spent the summer in North Kivu, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo making a documentary film with the BBC on reproductive health issues in conflicts and post conflict areas. This fall, Grace will moderate a panel at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) World Congress on "Human Resources Capacity in Emergency Settings"
Mike Wessells just completed three weeks of research on Do No Harm issues related to psychosocial support in Sri Lanka in the contexts of tsunami and armed conflict relief efforts. This work was supported by a grant from Psychology Beyond Borders. Mike was lead investigator on a global, inter-agency review of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based child protection mechanisms.
The American Psychological Association meeting in Toronto awarded the 2009 International Humanitarian Award and also the Ralph K. White Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology Division to Mike Wessells.
A key step in supporting populations affected by war and natural disasters is the development of inter-agency guidelines on the most effective, appropriate means of organizing mental health and psychosocial supports in emergency situations. Without solid inter-agency guidance, relief efforts tend to be poorly coordinated, and harmful or wasteful practices tend to proliferate. The necessary guidance should indicate how focused psychosocial supports can be organized for at risk people such as survivors of rape or separated children. It should also indicate how psychosocial support can be integrated with aid from other humanitarian sectors such as shelter and education by virtue of the way in which aid is done. At present, Columbia University faculty member Mike Wessells serves as co-focal point on psychosocial support for two related, timely initiatives. The first is the revision of the Sphere Handbook, which defines humanitarian standards in different sectors. The second is the revision of the INEE (International Network on Emergency Education) Guidelines. In both efforts, psychosocial support will be made a cross-cutting issue and a theme that needs to be woven into the fabric of humanitarian relief efforts. It is hoped that these efforts will help practitioners to alleviate more effectively the profound psychosocial suffering caused by disasters and armed conflicts.
May 2009
Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Grace Kodindo Calls Attention to Unmet Reproductive Health Needs in Africa
Awarded Prestigious Millennium Development Goal Torch by Danish Government
http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/news/e-newsletter/f-Kodindo_DeadMums.html
Grace Kodindo, MD, a Chadian OB/GYN and assistant clinical professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health, toured six European countries, speaking on behalf of the women behind this grim statistic at screenings of the BBC documentary Dead Mums Don’t Cry.
Dr. Kodindo was awarded the prestigious Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 3 Champion Torch at the film screening in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 4 for her commitment to achieving gender equity. The award was presented to Dr. Kodindo by Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Ulla Tørnæs. The MDG3 Champion Torch initiative comprises a critical part of Denmark’s call to action on MDG3, whereby worthy representatives of governments, the private sector, civil society, the media, individuals from North and South, and international organizations are recognized for their commitment to MDG3 and for “doing something extra” in support of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Les Roberts received the 2008 Edward Barsky Award at the Activist Physician Dinner at the APHA Conference in San Diego. The award is named for the Columbia physician who served in the Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, was an outspoken opponent of fascism, and later was imprisoned after being held in contempt during the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's. Les was cited for the award because of his pioneering work documenting death and human rights abuses in DR. Congo and Iraq. Les' work in DR Congo with the IRC is believed to be the first ever survey estimate of excess mortality from a war conducted while a war was underway and is believed to be the first war-time mortality estimate made via GPS-based sampling.
The Program on Forced Migration and Health was well-represented at the Unite for Sight Global Health Conference in April, 2009 at Yale University. Neil Boothby presented on the topic of "Protecting Children in Disaster and War: Efforts to Professionalize the Field." Alastair Ager discussed "Eliciting Local Understandings of Child Protection and Well-Being." Lindsay Stark spoke on "The Epidemiology of Human Rights."
Mike Wessells and Lindsay Stark will be presenting at the Coping and Resilience conference in Dubrovnik in October 2009. The title of their presentaion is: Resiliency in Children and Youth Following Armed Conflict and Emergencies. August 2008
Alastair Ager has been appointed to the newly established Wellcome Trust Steering Committee on Public Health Impact of Disasters. The committee is being asked to review evidence, identify gaps, and develop a research agenda relating to the public health impact of disasters.
While lives are often lost as an immediate result of a disaster, there are also often many further deaths in the aftermath, for example from diarrhoeal disease and other infectious diseases. There is also often increased nutritional stress, particularly in children, which seems to be exacerbated by recent commodity price
increases. The recent floods in southern Africa highlighted other concerns about the impact on pre-existing chronic conditions, with reports of people unable to reach clinics to receive antiretroviral drugs, or treatments for tuberculosis. And a further area that has received little attention is the longer term mental health impacts
for survivors of a disaster.
Tackling the public health impacts of disasters will require the strengthening of local systems and infrastructure to allow improved disaster preparedness, risk reduction and first responder capacity
development. However, it will also depend on developing a research agenda that provides evidence to inform better disaster management.
It is anticipated that this agenda will inform wider thinking about research to improve emergency health response as well as the Wellcome Trust’s own exploration of opportunities in this area.
The July 2008 issue of Congressional Quarterly, Global Researcher provides an overview to child soldiers; Neil Boothby contributed to the article and is quoted in the article.
The Journal of Refugee Studies includes a review of A World Turned Upside Down edited by Neil Boothby, Alison Strang and Mike Wessells.
May 2008 articles in New Scientist and Science News highlights the work of Neil Boothby and Mike Wessells.
Neil Boothby received $1.3 million grant from Oak Foundation to establish the Care and Protection of Children Interagency Learning Network (CPC Learning Network). The CPC Learning Network aims to strengthen and systematize child care and protection in emergency settings through the collaborative action of humanitarian organizations, local institutions, and academic partners.
Alastair Ager spoke at SIPA's Conflict Resolution Working Group Roundtable Discussion Series on 'The Psychosocial Dimension of Violent Conflict'
on February 13, 2008.
Neil Boothby participated in the January 2008 UN Global Protection Cluster Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. He spoke on the PFMH's new CPC Learning Network initiative, and his work on systematic approaches to child protection in emergencies. The PFMH is the only academic member of the Cluster's Working Group on Child Protection.
On December 5th, 2007 at the United Nations Secretariat in New York City, Columbia University, in conjunction with UNOCHA, conducted a discussion of ongoing research in conflict-affected areas led by members of the PFMH's Care and Protection of Children in Crisis-Affected Countries (CPC Project) research team. PFMH faculty, Les Roberts and Alastair Ager, and students, Lindsay Stark and Ann Warner, discussed a methodology used in northern Uganda (in partnership with Christian Children's Fund)
and in Liberia (in partnership with the International Rescue Committee) to establish incidence rates for gender based violence.
The assessments involve a novel 'Neighborhood Methodology,' in which women are asked about their own experience, their sisters' experiences, and their neighbors' experiences of sexual violence.
Alastair Ager gave the closing address at the one-day international symposium 'The Heart of Humanitarian Relief' organized by Headington Institute and People in Aid on November 14, 2007 in Baltimore, MD.
Neil Boothby received $48,000 over two years from the US Institute for Peace to create a system for rapid identification of the prevalence and frequency of child protection concerns within conflict-affected areas. This grant supplements an existing 3-year, 1.2 million grant from USAID and the Oak Foundation to develop evidence for effective protection programming for children in countries affected by crisis.
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