CIGH will host a CME course Feb. 27−28, 2016 on humanitarian surgery missions in developing countries. Led by Sherry Wren, MD, director of global surgery, the fourth annual international humanitarian aid skills course will review common conditions encountered in resource-limited settings. Through a variety of techniques, including skill stations and simulation, the course will provide instruction on common procedures performed in resource-limited environments. The course also will offer the essential elements of surgical safety, ethics, and cultural considerations in such settings.

Stanford's Thomas Weiser, MD, is co-author of a new study that suggests the World Health Organization recommendation for cesarean delivery, or C-section, rates should be re-examined. Published Dec. 1 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study analyzed the relationship between C-sections and maternal and neonatal mortality in 194 countries. Results showed that rates of C-sections vary widely between countries and suggest there are many countries where not enough C-sections are being performed due to inadequate access to safe and timely emergency obstetrical care.  

Ian Crozier, MD, is a walking laboratory for Ebola and a living testament to the damaging, long-term consequences of the disease, which are still very poorly understood. In a captivating seminar hosted by CIGH, Stanford Immunology and Stanford MSTP, Dr. Crozier - a physician volunteer during the outbreak in West Africa - recounted his story of survival and the complications that ensued.

Worldwide, more than six million children die before their fifth birthday each year, the majority of whom are children born into poverty. In a recent Conversations in Global Health seminar, Anita Zaidi, MD, an internationally recognized pediatrician and director of the enteric and diarrheal diseases program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discussed the issues impacting maternal and child health and her work in her home country of Pakistan, which has the third highest infant mortality rates in the world.