HIV/AIDS

Overview and update of Tuberculosis in global health, augmented with cases from around the world.

Why is HIV/AIDS still a concern on the mission field? HIV prevalence and AIDS death rates have declined in many countries, yet HIV/AIDS continues to have tremendous medical, emotional, economic and social challenges. Using case presentations, this workshop will explore HIV/AIDS treatment and care drawing from the speaker’s experience in Africa.

Suppose you were born in Central Thailand 60 years ago. As a teenager you found a numb spot on your arm, later on your arm became painful and finally your hand was deformed and you couldn’t feel or grip anything. You and your family were frightened. The monks at the Buddhist temple tried to help, but their expensive poultices did not help. Your family loved you, but they felt they had no alternative than to put you out of the house. You were a social outcast and would have to live a life of begging.

What is worldview? What is your worldview? What is the worldview of the community described in the scenario above?

The great majority of medical missions in East Asia takes place in Buddhist and Chinese (Confucius) contexts. Are they the same, similar or different? What obstacles must be overcome to make an impact physically and spiritually in East Asia? What must a medical missionary understand and put into practice in order to work effectively with peoples in Buddhist and Chinese worldviews? Finally, what is the unique role that medical missions can have in these contexts?

This session will feature Dr. David Leung, a family medicine doctor who has worked at Evergreen ministries in Taiyuan, China for over 15 years. He will present the Chinese worldview. I will present the Buddhist challenge.

The principles of abdominal surgery are not different in Africa, but the presentation, available diagnostic tools and frequency of certain etiologies is significantly different. The approach and therapy of peptic ulcer disease, small bowel obstruction, large bowel obstruction and parasitic disease in the abdomen will be the primary diseases discussed.

Despite declining HIV prevalence and AIDS death rate in many countries, HIV/AIDS remains a tremendous challenge with medical, emotional, economic and social problems. Using case presentations and an interactive format, this workshop will explore HIV/AIDS care and treatment issues particularly from the speaker’s experience in Africa

many of the consequences of human trafficking have health ramifications, both physical and mental. It is important to be aware of these to help in identification of victims and to meet their health needs

This session will give a general overview of the topic of human trafficking specifically designed for healthcare professionals. It will cover both domestic and international trafficking as well as sex and labor trafficking. The session will also discuss general identifiers of human trafficking, as well as how to prepare to respond to victims of human trafficking in the healthcare setting.

Oral Surgery can be particularly challenging on the mission field. In addition to dealing with communication and language difficulties, there are cross-cultural issues and often the lack of x-rays, proper lighting, poor suction, the lack of a trained assistant and possibly the lack of some necessary equipment. Some teams have no dentist on board and many dentists do only limited oral surgery in their practices. How can we be prepared and what are some of the techniques that we can use that might be of help as we care for those who often have never seen a dentist before and are in pain or have been in pain. Releiving pain and infection and doing no harm is only one of the pressing issues when we are out of our comfort zone working in a small dark area where we could be injured and where the incidence of HIV may be quite high.

Fever is a common and recurrent diagnostic dilemma for medical providers in tropical regions or those who see international travelers. Patterns of fever and associated clinical findings often provide important clinical clues to direct diagnostic testing and therapy. Join in an interactive session that will review the causes of fever in various parts of the world. This session will focus on the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges for those who work in resource poor areas.

Travel to developing countries exposes one personally and professionally to new and unfamiliar diseases. This session will review real cases illustrating common tropical worms and germs. Join in the group discussion and diagnostic challenge.

Dr. Ralph Winter said that for every 100 people who made a mission commitment at some point in their lives, only one made it to the mission field. Why? For lack of mobilizers! The same can be said for lack of mentors. What is a mentor? What do mentors offer prospective long-term medical missionaries? Come to this session if you desire a mentor or if you desire to become a mentor. Before the session you may want to familiarize yourself with GMHC’s mentoring service at https://www.medicalmissions.com/community/mentoring . This session strives to honor God by helping you translate your dreams of serving as a long-term medical missionary into reality.

Scientific and technical advances are often seen as the key to best medical practice and have become the aspiration of both developed and developing countries. But to focus only on biological processes is to ignore other powerful influences on the causes and management of illness. A solely mechanistic approach fails to deal with the basic requirement of patients to be cared for as people - in body, mind and spirit.
This session will explore the broader practice of patient care defined by the phrase ‘whole person medicine’. Beginning with a biblical basis for this approach, and taking evidence from history and research, we will examine its core component of compassion including its practical application in healthcare delivery and teaching.

The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven shaped every aspect of Jesus’ ministry - - his healing, prayers, teaching and even his identity . As we follow him in health care missions, the Kingdom should also define our goals, methodologies, and ways of relating with those we serve and with our co-workers. It should fuel our hope and our perseverance.

Everyone who has been on a medical mission has some embarrassing and/or hilarious stories of cultural or language blunders. Sometimes the events are just funny. Sometimes they can seriously compromise relationships and the intended impact of the whole mission, including our Christian witness. This session offers perspective, spiritual grounding and practical tools for building healthy relationships, avoiding, or at least recovering from many of the common mistakes in cross-cultural missions.

Microfinance has become a very popular strategy for helping to stabilize and grow the incomes of poor families in the Global South. Given the close association between economic prosperity and physical health, there is a tremendous opportunity to integrate microfinance progams with various health initiatives. This workshop introduces the basic concepts of microfinance and gives examples of attempts to integrate health education and health insurance into microfinance programs.

Healthy individuals and families require healthy communities. Historically, many attempts to create such communities have used a "needs-based approach" which focuses on the deficits and short-comings in those communities, the assumption being that outside resources would be the catalyst for change. In contrast, an "asset-based approach" identifies, connects and mobilizes the resources within a community, believing that such resources are the key to sustainable change. This workshop introduces the key ideas of asset-based community development and suggests helpful tools to pursue this process.

Oral lesions can present clues of a systemic conditions—the appearance, the character 
of the lesions, the size, the duration, and the location of the lesions can give some insight as to a possible systemic implications. On the mission field, without all the desired tests and studies, it is very helpful to have an idea what lesions may be part of a systemic condition and what lesions are most likely to respond to local measures. Bring your "thinking cap" and lets have some fun. There will be time for questions and answers.

This session will give an overview of the current picture of trafficking in persons within the United States including international and domestic trafficking with an emphasis on child sex trafficking, the major form of trafficking in persons within the U.S. In addition, the session will address specific indicators of human trafficking for the healthcare professional and how to help identify victims of human trafficking that may present in the healthcare setting.

This workshop will explore concepts, principles and recommendations for the involvement of people of faith and the local church in HIV and AIDS ministry. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify characteristics, roles and functions of faith communities which are suited for HIV and AIDS ministry and programs.

• Explore personal and congregational barriers that hinder faith-based involvement in HIV and AIDS efforts.

• Develop a specific individual and corporate plan of action for addressing HIV and AIDS within their communities and congregations.