Land Acknowledgement: President Avrumacknowledged that we meet on the land previously owned by the indigenous nations before settlers arrived.
Toast to the King, Canada, and Rotary: President Avrum
Attendance: 11 members and Dorothy Evans, guest of Basil Dias.
Basil Dias introduced Dr. ViJay Chattu as one of our newest members and guest speaker. He was originally from Trinidad. He spoke of his very interesting careers in public health and global health and earned his Ph.D. under the supervision of a Barbadian professor.
Vijay explained that his recent absence has been because he has been closing his previous residence, then obtaining his Canadian citizenship, and has been working on various international agencies focusing on health security and health diplomacy. His research has convinced him that health will be part of geopolitical issues. Normally, medical doctors do not involve themselves in political science but Vijay is convinced that in the future health will be part of geopolitical issues and will demand a global political response. He pointed out that any infection can be spread around the world in 48 hours. Countries are beginning to work together but they also often have a national agenda. Every political leader wants to protect their citizens and their pharmaceutical industry. Take as an example the vaccine production during COVID-19. The rich countries were able to produce vaccines quickly but 3 or 4 times more than the requirement to vaccinate their own population. They often found only one dose would be taken up when four doses had been prescribed. The better way is to co-operate with other countries to help them achieve these mutually attainable goals. Put nationalism aside to achieve the best global result that is Global Health and not Public Health. The latter is about how we maintain our systems e.g. how we maintain a safe drinking water supply, drainage systems, food and rules for public facilities, etc. Global health differs in that it is about maternal health and high infant mortality, especially in India and Africa. Climate change has been taken up by Rotary as a critical part of global health. (An excellent article is available in the April 2024 edition of the Rotary Magazine page 24 “A Labor of Love” which features a Rotary Programs of Scale award an initiative in Nigeria that seeks to remedy the country’s high instances of maternal death.)visit https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-magazine
Vjay says that he is working toward strengthening global health security and urging Rotary to be a catalyst for achieving this objective. He is trying to discern how Rotary can be a part of this worldwide effort. He is looking at how to strengthen global health security through global health diplomacy. This is a new concept that has emerged in the last couple of years. Covid has been the incentive for global action. People want us to be better prepared for the next pathogen that can go around the world in less than 48 hours. There are also non-communicable diseases that can be a health threat. Examples include cancer, diabetes, respiratory diseases, occupational diseases, and the like. People die from these
every day and we can’t do much about that. But Rotary is committed to ending the scourge of communicable diseases worldwide. But Rotary has committed to wipe out Polio worldwide. Many Rotarians dedicate themselves to that goal.
Vijay then went on to describe the two approaches available to the Caribbean leaders to confront their health care issues people were dying at an average age of 40 years. The health leadership organization can be designed by a top-down approach or a bottom-up one. They chose to use the bottom-up organization and it took from 2007 to 2011 until they could be recognized by the UNWHO.
We wish to get Viay’s message out as soon as possible. So we have attached the full recording of his remarks.
Basil Dias introduced Dr. ViJay Chattu as one of our newest members and guest speaker. He was originally from Trinidad. He spoke of his very interesting careers in public health and global health and earned his Ph.D. under the supervision of a Barbadian professor.
Barry Smith
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