Cultural Competence

Dr. Danielle Ouellet is cycling across Canada this summer to spread the word, and the word is “prevention.” She aims to challenge parents and educators, and especially politicians, to change the current paradigm of medicine that did not stem the alarming rates of hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Watch for her regular posts from the road.

At the upcoming G8 summit, Stephen Harper has stated he intends to champion an agenda that improves the health of women and children (aside from allowing full reproductive choices). This is part of the Millennium goals, on which all participants at the Summit will receive a score card on their progress. However, how well are we scoring on empowering and supporting the women physicians who in many parts of the world supply more than 50% of healthcare?

Aim is to develop physician leadership capacity

Investment in maternal and child health should be earmarked for improvements of basic health services, not big-ticket items like new universities

Dr. Fikre Germa, the vice-president of the Canadian branch of the Ethiopian North American Health Providers Association, says group is focused on CME, knowledge transfer and medical capacity building