HIV/AIDS

Parasites are the cause of many common tropical diseases. Recognizing the typical presentation and prevention of parasitic diseases can be extremely valuable for those practicing in a tropical setting. We will explore short case vignettes to illustrate the classic diseases caused by protozoa, worms and ectoparasites. Those who wish to present their own cases are also invited to participate. Bring your powers of observation and clinical wit to diagnose these mystery cases.

Over 96M Americans live in medically underserved areas (MUAs) right here in the United States. Most MUAs are located in strategic areas of need where service is desperately needed and where people are ripe for the gospel. Medical mission pioneers are responding to needs in our own nation by applying in domestic settings proven strategies that have worked in challenging international fields. These courageous disciples recognize that our mission really is "global" and not just "international"; that "mission" is not something you do 2 weeks in the summer, but is a lifestyle; and that serving in cross-cultural, impoverished communities here not only fulfills our Christian mandate, but is the best preparation they can get for work in other countries.

This session will examine what gospel-driven healthcare looks like in the U.S., and discuss the principles and strategies that are helping Christians extend Christ's love through healthcare to the neediest of our neighbors.

Traditional ways of serving in medical missions have included working in mission hospitals, clinics and aspects of community development and public health. Less well-known—but significant—medical mission ministries from the beginning include medical education and cooperating with local and national governments in planning or providing healthcare, including national healthcare. As entry into many areas of the world has been restricted for traditional medical missions over the past generation, these other less well-known thrusts have increased in strategic significance.

Three distinguished panelists—Dr. James Smith, Dr. Daniel Tolan and Dr. Matthew Koh— bring extensive experience from nearly all continents to this session. They have served in both Christian and secular contexts and short and long term programs that have greatly enhanced the scope and effectiveness of medical missions worldwide. Join us to expand your horizons of opportunities to serve in these medical ministries.

Mission Medical: Assessing and Addressing Spiritual Needs of Patients

We'll discuss (1) why healthcare professionals have been reluctant to take a spiritual history, (2) the positive association of spirituality/religiosity and physical/mental health, and (3) several spiritual history tools to consider for use in clinical care.

Healthcare provides a unique opportunity to engage the deepest issues of life and faith alongside those who are suffering. Can you care for patients in a way that brings them before Jesus and offers them peace, healing, and wholeness? Discover how to practice healthcare as your ministry…starting even now as a student or resident.

In this session, we will cover the interaction of factors affecting nutritional status and the principles for treating severe acute malnutrition. We will also address
important vitamin and mineral deficiencies in developing countries.

This session will cover the rationale for a syndromic approach to fever in the tropics. We will consider the causes of 8 common fever syndromes.

Although the principles of medical and dental care are the same worldwide, the need for translation, existing local health beliefs, customs, teaching methods, and other social and political factors may present barriers which have a significant impact on the effectiveness of efforts to teach healthcare professionals cross-culturally. This session will examine several of these.

Have you longed to integrate your Christian faith into your patient care – both on the mission field abroad and in your work at home? Not sure how to do this in a caring, sensitive, and relevant manner? This “working” session will explore the ethical basis for spiritual care plus provide you with profession, timely, and practical methods to care for the whole person in the clinical setting.

Health Care ministry in inner city neighborhoods must be incarnational – embracing our communities. Living, working and serving within the context of the community we serve draws us toward God’s love for people and helps us identify with our neighbors. Should one try to move into communities of poverty in order to serve there? How can we encourage those who grew up in our communities to stay to serve God within the context of their lives? This workshop will explore Christ’s healing ministry among those he came to serve. Two of Esperanza Health Center’s leaders will share their experiences and vision for health care ministry as one who relocated into North Philadelphia and one who grew up in North Philadelphia. We need one another to be able to gain a more complete vision for effective Christ-centered health care ministry.

This session will give an overview of the current picture of trafficking in persons within the United States focusing mainly on child sex trafficking, the major form of trafficking in persons within the U.S. In addition, the session will address specific ways that health professionals can become abolitionists.

There have been many major developments in HIV research in the past year. So much so that many are now talking confidently about the end of the disease, zero new infections, curing HIV, etc. This interactive session will explore the developments, including those presented at the International AIDS Conference in July to which the facilitator is a delegate. There will be opportunities to explore the what is being learned and proposed and to evaluate how practical they are in various settings around the world, especially Africa where the majority of people living with the virus reside. If you have any interest in and/or experience with HIV, you will benefit from this session and your participation will benefit the rest of us.

In the wake of the AIDS pandemic and other disasters remain those least capable of caring for themselves. How do we best respond to their needs? Drawing from the speaker's international experience and using case studies and an interactive format, the session will explore the health issues of OVCs and the physical, mental and social components to their care.

This is a NEW EMERGING model of empowering the local church to care for the most vulnerable. Globally there has been a growing realization that the church (called civil society in government and UN circles) in its manifold expressions has been under-utilized in developing countries in community development in general and specifically in the fight against HIV and AIDS, especially with the drastic reduction of bilateral aid for HIV and AIDS related projects in developing countries. In addition, the less than successful results of the majority of educational programs promoting prevention has led to the understanding that a corrective pedagogy may be necessary since the content of the material that presented in the various events are sound. In this presentation, the mobilization of the church/civil society in a community in South Africa as well as one in Rwanda which resulted in highly clinical effectiveness will be presented. The Rwanda project has grown from regional to national in scope and focuses on the mobilization of the church/civil society for prevention and care for those infected and affected by the AIDS pandemic with special emphasis on appropriate pedagogical principles. The model, also known as the “Clinical Church” will be presented.
Meaningful segments of data that will be discussed includes: Biomedical - Knowledge concerning HIV/AIDS of the stakeholders; Cultural assumptions - Knowledge of and belief in HIV/AIDS related myths among the stakeholders; Responses (affective) - Affective responses of the stakeholders to the AIDS pandemic; analyses of the pedagogical methodology of the trainers in this community as perceived by the major stakeholders. A detailed descriptive analysis of the pedagogical strategy and context of a pilot project in Rwanda, which includes private and public sector cooperation as well as government participation, will be used to demonstrate the role of the pastor and the church in community based healthcare.

Global health does not stand still. The needs remain high, the priorities change, the field gets ever more complex. Deciding what's the most important way to contribute is a big challenge, whether we are students or experienced professionals or somewhere in between.
And discerning our own gifts and how we can be of most use to God is most important of all
We will explore global health trends and the opportunites for people of faith aginst this background. I hope we will have an interactive session

Medical mission or what I prefer to call Health Care Mission remains a crucial issue for 21st century Christians.
Yes, we need to be fully involved in medical missions but just as important, be effective as people of faith in secular environments where we can be agents of change and transformation.
In this breakout session we will try to discern together how medical missions can help to become more grounded in the needs, realities and paradigms of today and not fight todays battles with yesterdays tools
We will be concerating on primary health and community health perspectives

Health networks are becoming increasingly essential in global health. By working together through intentional groupings of those with similar interests and objectives, we can have a greater impact, and work more effectively with government and donors
Most important of all we can mazimize our value to God's Kingdom by demonstrating harmony, unity and joint purpose
This session considers health networks in general with particular reference to an emerging and expanding network- Community Health Global Network

Everyone who has been on a medical mission has some embarrassing and/or hilarious stories of cultural insensitivity or language blunders. Sometimes the events are just funny. Sometimes they can seriously compromise 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.

Our discussion will include:
• Framing the problem: Why doesn’t everyone see the world my way?
• A spiritual foundation: Humility – be a Learner
• Communication: Language is more than just words. A simple, practical language/culture learning process – even for short-term missions.
• Relationships: Essential Bridges - - build them to last
• Good news is not always Good News: Why context is always important. Looking for systemic roots to disease, poverty and hunger - - and how to work for lasting change.

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 of lack of mentors—and the lack of appreciation of the resources that are available to fan into flame serving in medical mission. What is a mentor? What are the resources available? Come to this session to find what’s available to keep you on track for medical mission. As an extra bonus, meet a young medical missionary (not me, obviously) on home assignment to discover how he found a mentor and what this means to him.

Medical missions are often challenging because of cross-cultural exposure to unfamiliar diseases in settings with limited diagnostic resources. Common tropical illnesses are generally unfamiliar to US trained providers. This session will present real cases from Africa and Asia focusing on tropical skin diseases, HIV, diarrhea, fever and malnutrition. History and visual clues along with simple lab and x-rays will guide our discussions and help you be better prepared. Cases will be of interest to those with medical training or those serving in an area without easy access to medical care. Come and enjoy the game.