Africa: Regional Bodies, Governments Gear Up H1N1 Influenza Response

Dakar — The World Health Organization's (WHO) Africa regional office has created a crisis management team to monitor the spread of influenza A/H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, as WHO raised the global influenza pandemic alert level to phase 5 - just short of a full pandemic.

In West Africa regional organisations and governments are diffusing flu prevention information and gearing up to cope in case of an outbreak. No case of the influenza A/H1N1 virus has been detected in the region to date.

Many countries are adapting contingency plans they had in place for H5N1, or avian flu.

At least two West African governments have banned pork imports in reaction to the H1N1 outbreak, while one is informing people that there is no threat from pork; WHO has said influenza viruses are not known to be transmissible to people through eating processed pork or other food products derived from pigs.

Benin

The government has created an inter-ministerial crisis committee which to date has begun screening all arriving and departing passengers at airports, regardless of origin or destination. Government is distributing masks at the airport. The inter-ministerial committee is informing the public that it is safe to eat pork. The country has 5,000 doses of Tamiflu; Benin would need at least three times that in the case of a pandemic, according to Onoré Djogbe, head of epidemiology in Health Ministry's sanitation office.

The Health Medicine Forum

The Health Medicine Forum is a group of health practitioners from all disciplines who are dedicated to the collaborative exploration, practice and advancement of the emerging discipline of Health Medicine. The Health Medicine Forum serves to inform, educate and connect those interested in a holistic and integrative approach to medicine, one that is focused on prevention and person-centered care.

Clinical Affiliations

UMHS has established affiliations with a number of teaching hospitals in New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. In addition, we are continuing to expand the core clinical affiliations, and are in negotiations with a significant number of teaching hospitals in a variety of states including, but not limited to Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, and Michigan.

Clinical Science

The Clinical Science Program is designed to give students a broad spectrum of medical practice, training in clinical skills, and patient contact. The program consists of fifth semester, and core and elective rotations that are completed at U.S. teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Medicine and Health Sciences.

UMHS students complete their fifth semester studies at the UMHS campus in Portland, Maine. The fifth semester consists of the following required courses, Introduction to Clinical Medicine II and Biological Basis of Clinical Medicine.

The UMHS facilities in Portland, Maine include the latest in simulation and technology resources. Virtual clinics utilizing human simulators are a regular student experience.

All student clinical experiences will be conducted by a team of experienced Maine physicians, many of whom have decades of both medical practice and teaching experience. Students will be assigned to physicians in actual patient care settings at several hospitals, clinics, and office health centers in and around Portland. The opportunity to work beside renowned Maine physicians is designed to build student clinical capabilities, increase student confidence, and enhance student performance on United States Licensing Examinations (USMLE).

Fifth semester students will have an opportunity to enjoy all that Portland, Maine has to offer, including succulent lobster, beautiful lighthouses, and scenic views. Portland offers all the amenities of a city such as museums, parks, and great shopping. Maine offers the mountains for skiing and hiking, rivers for canoeing, and of course, the incredible ocean coastline.

After passing Step I of the USMLE, students will be placed in clinical rotations at one or more affiliated teaching hospitals throughout the United States. This occurs under the guidance of clinical faculty, and under the supervision of the Dean of Clinical Sciences.
These clinical clerkships include 48 weeks of mandatory course clinical rotations, as well as 34 weeks of elective clinical rotations. The core rotations represent the primary areas of medical practice and the elective rotations provide students with an understanding of the various specialties in medicine.

Welcome CSMMH.

The Commission for Scientific Medicine and Mental Health (CSMMH) is devoted to the scientific examination of unproven alternative medicine and mental health therapies, which have become increasingly popular in the United States and the world.

The application of modern science to mental and physical health has allowed human beings to overcome age-old maladies and increase longevity. Despite the clear progress in human mental and physical well being, many patients and practitioners have embraced unfounded, and sometimes dangerous, practices, both ancient and new. In recent years, a wide range of unconventional therapies has appeared on the public scene. The fields of medicine and mental health have witnessed a widening gap between research and practice.

Aberrant remedies and techniques are often offered uncritically as alternative or complementary to mainstream medicine. They include everything from untested herbal medicines, homeopathy, and aromatherapy to the use of acupuncture, therapeutic touch, prayer at a distance, faith healing, chelation therapy, and purportedly miraculous cancer cures. A wide variety of unsubstantiated or untested treatments and therapies (such as facilitated communication and hypnotic age regression) and assessment methods (such as human figure drawing tests) have flourished in popularity in recent years in the field of mental health. Still other techniques (such as anatomically correct dolls and the Rorschach Inkblot Test) are widely used even though they are questionable on scientific grounds. Although some of these techniques may ultimately prove to be effective, it is disturbing that their use greatly outstrips their evidentiary base.

The Commission believes that the need for objective, scientific evaluations of alternative or non-conventional medicine, psychiatry, and psychotherapy has never been greater.

The Commission proposes that the best tools of science should be applied to evaluate the validity of hypotheses and the effectiveness of treatments. It will dismiss no claim a priori, but consider it on its merits or because it fits, or fails to fit, some paradigm. It will, using scientific methods and reasonable criteria, seek justified answers to the question "Does this treatment work?" It will call for double-blind and randomized trials of alternative therapies.

Much dubious research has been widely promoted in the Internet, newspapers, television and radio that has later been found to be flawed. Unfortunately, news coverage demonstrates that many in the media are often misinformed about the quality of the research and the need to qualify the importance or to suspend judgment until a full review by the scientific community has a chance to expose shortcomings. The Commission will actively communicate the need for balanced media coverage of provocative research in alternative medicine and mental health practice.

Citizens rely on the expertise of health practitioners and the commitment to objective journalism to make informed decisions about their medical and mental health. The Commission therefore calls upon physicians, psychologists, researchers, health practitioners, journalists and citizens everywhere to join us in supporting this important venture to advance scientific medicine and informed choice.