Neglected tropical diseases

An excellent and relatively brief factsheet from the World Health Organization highlights the reality that one billion people, most poor and marginalised in rural parts of low income countries, are living with and dying too early from diseases such as buruli ulcers, chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis), dengue fever, dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis (river blindness), schistosomiasis (bilharzia), trachoma and yaws.

To my shame I have not even heard of many of these diseases, have heard of some but really know nothing much about them, and can comment in a knowledgable way about only two. I guess that underpins how neglected these debilitating conditions are.

WHO notes that key challenges to addressing the incidence and impact of these diseases include:

• Limited visibility since the diseases are tied to specific geographical and environmental conditions and do not spread easily to industrialized countries;
• Not on the radar screen of most decision makers, mainstream research and funding agencies;
  
• Little market incentive to develop medicinesand vaccines as mainly poor people areaffected.
  

The authors note that "children and women are disproportionately affected by some neglected tropical diseases and may face additional barriers to seeking and receiving treatment. Women also tend to suffer more severely from social stigma. Dissemination of information is necessary for awareness-raising, and for impeding stigmatization, which is both a cause and consequence
of neglected tropical diseases."

I thought the 'cause and consequence' phrase was interesting. Stigma is so pervasive.

And as we in the 'West' manage to find billions and billions of dollars to bail out imprudent financiers and to deploy ineffective but highly visible thermal imaging devices in our airports - what proportion diverted to sanitation and safe drinking water, housing and education, information and community development would be needed to eliminate these conditions and to adequately provide for those already affected.

As Pete commented I need to start in my own backyard with this. And to advocate for those whose voices are seldom heard when the money is distributed.

What panics us

Cheryl pointed me to an excellent article in the Melbourne Age in relation to Influenza A H1 N1 (as we now know it). I hope that these snippets from the article may entice you to read the full account:

"We may be hard-wired to panic about minor threats such as swine flu and ignore real dangers, writes John Watson.

THINK of each "threat", be it terrorism, asylum seekers, SARS, bird flu and now swine flu: how many deaths in Australia has each of these caused? None. Smoking, cars, ordinary flu — these cause thousands of preventable deaths every year and we shrug them off. The disparity between the impacts of threats and the panic they cause is remarkable. Even globally, with the exception of terrorism or, rather, the conflicts it has triggered, the tolls are strikingly small by comparison to the threats that are most likely to kill us.

"... when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd talks about swine flu being a "serious international concern for public health" and vows to use all available resources to counter it, one has to wonder why the world's really big preventable killers barely register"

"Each panic about relatively minor or remote risks diverts attention and resources from tackling threats that we know will kill millions year after year.

• nearly 2 billion people — a third of the world's population — are infected with tuberculosis. About 5 to 10 per cent go on to develop full-blown TB, which kills about 2 million people a year.
  
• AIDS has infected more than 33 million people, including 2.5 million children, and killed about 2.1 million in 2007. In low to middle-income countries, fewer than one in three HIV-positive people receives antiviral therapy.
  
• Malaria causes about 250 million cases of fever and about 1 million deaths a year.
  
• Even the simple tragedy of diarrhoea as a result of poor sanitation and malnutrition kills about 1.8 million a year. Each day, about 25,000 children die of infectious disease and hunger.

These are not potential pandemics; they are happening now."

"The question, then, is why do the deaths of only some people from obscure diseases cause us to panic? And how can we be so unfeeling when we have the power to save the lives of millions by relatively simple, inexpensive precautions and treatments? The answer possibly lies in the profound hold that stereotypes have over our assessment of threats and our ability to empathise with others. Recent psychological research, including the mapping of brain activity, has established that stereotypes have a very powerful hold over us.

The world is a complex place, full of threats and opportunities. At its most primal level, we quickly need to make sense of these by sorting friend from foe. We are mentally wired to judge by appearances, to categorise on the basis of past experience or conditioning. On a very basic level, this means we almost instantly, automatically and unconsciously decide where people fit into our world. "

"The power of stereotypes would also explain the irrational difference in our attitudes to asylum seekers who arrive by boat and those who arrive by air. Fewer than 40 per cent of "aeroplane people", who vastly outnumber "boat people", succeed in their asylum claims, but their arrival causes no great public concern or resentment. More than 90 per cent of boat people have proven to be genuine refugees, yet the Howard government's claim that the "threat" amounted to a "national emergency" was readily accepted. Boat people fit the stereotype.

As for swine flu, bird flu and SARS, it seems that only when we perceive that infectious diseases threaten "people like us" do we respond with real urgency. The millions killed by TB, AIDS, malaria and other mass killers are doomed to fit the stereotype of people who live and die like that. We can accept it as the way of the world. Aboriginal Australians are just as much victims of the indifference that flows from such stereotyping. Stereotypes matter, but not everyone is prisoner to the irrationality they can inspire. Being conscious of the power of stereotypes to sway the responses of individuals and governments is the first step to reducing them to a useful mental tool, rather than succumbing to a dangerously distorting trap of the mind.

Cheryl links the article really well to Jesus conversing with the Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7:24ff when she writes:

"- if we think there’s a chance Jesus got it very wrong at the beginning of the conversation, then the story becomes about something else - the broadening of the mission of God, perhaps; i like the idea that it was about Jesus beginning to recognise that he was tapped into something that could change the world… that this whole section of Mark is as much about Jesus working out who he was, as it was about the disciples doing likewise. And that was happening by being in conversations with ‘the other’… not by the conversations with those who agreed with him, or those who worshipped him.

"I also like the idea that the story fits into the whole Markan theme about humanising the de-humanised… that the systems of power that Mark wants to overthrow are those that suck the life out of people and the world; shattering preconceptions, generalisations and labels… always making us look behind our assumptions of each other, and our judgements that diminish another’s worth… i don’t think that Mark was on about people becoming Christians, he was on about people becoming human."

For myself, one of the challenges to living an authentic Christian life is to see within myself this "neural dehumanisation" that is evidenced by preparing for an influenza pandemic without doing anything much to address the real killers of our world. I need to find a place to start.

Creative response to censorship

Last Sunday in Fiji we purchased a newspaper which had several blank spaces - except for words along the lines of "this article could not be printed due to government printing restrictions". Another Fiji newspaper has taken a novel approach with a satirical jibe at stringent censorship imposed by Fiji's military Government: filling the space with some no news. Fiji's military ruler Frank Bainimarama has posted censors in the offices of newspapers and radio and television stations, ordered foreign journalists out of the country and shut down the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's radio transmitters.

Some no news examples:

Read all about it: man gets on bus

• April 16, 2009

In a satirical jibe at stringent censorship imposed by Fiji's military Government, the Daily Post newspaper has been filling the space with some no news.

Headlines in Wednesday's edition included "Man gets on bus" over an item reading: "In what is believed to be the first reported incident of its kind, a man got on a bus yesterday. 'It was easy,' he said. 'I just lifted one leg up and then the other and I was on.' "

Another headed "Breakfast as usual" began: "It was breakfast as usual for the staff of this newspaper. 'I had leftover roti from last night,' senior reporter Manueli told his colleague yesterday morning."

A third story began, "Paint has apparently dried on his old couch, Max reports. Given the job of painting the couch, Max was excited at the prospect of the paint drying. But when asked how it dried, he was nonplussed.

" 'It just went on wet, but after about four hours, it started to dry. That was when I realised, paint dries,' the young scholar observed.

For Fiji, ever Fiji,

Last weekend in Fiji I noted how regularly the national anthem played on television. At dinner last night we were discussing recent events in this beautiful island nation and someone wondered about life expectancy. So I've just looked it up - 68 years in 2007. Well below Australia and New Zealand.

Some of the other indicators are very concerning. While primary school enrollment is at 91 per cent, I learned last week that the growing economic climate has resulted in some children, especially from rural areas, being withdrawn from secondary education because the parent's cash crops were washed away in the January floods. Even in urban areas more than half the population are without improved drinking water facilities (maybe why a fellow traveller had to leave our aircraft on the way home due to apparent gastroenteritis).

In 2007 other indicators like vaccination rates were positive, equalling many developed countries in the Pacific. The challenge will be to maintain these rates in the face of serious cuts in government agency budgets.

From this far away perspective it is hard to know the best response to recent events. For us in the Uniting Church in Australia, we need to look to our partner church the Methodist church in Fiji and to support them in theior important role. And to keep watch with them.

Amen

Illumination

Christine, at Abbey of the Arts, has issued invitations toPoetry Party #28! Posted on Monday, she notes that December 8th is both the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Christian Tradition and the Enlightenment of the Buddha in Buddhist Tradition. The Immaculate Conception honors the conception of Mary without sin, illuminating her purity and grace from the moment she was conceived in her own mother’s womb in preparation for her to give birth to God. In Orthodox tradition, Mary is know as Theotokos, which means God-bearer. December 8th also marks the observance of the Buddha achieving enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. The word enlightenment is derived from the idea of becoming filled with light, light symbolizing clarity and wisdom.

The invitation is to write a poem in honor of the call to illumination. To become illuminated means that one carries a light within rather than seeking it from another source. Just like Mary and Buddha, we each carry the spark of the divine flame. The mystics have told us this for centuries.

Christine also posted the photograph below as a focus for creativity. In the growing darkness of these days, might you discover your own brilliance and the brilliant beauty of the world? The image below was taken at the retreat center (on the Hood Canal) one evening when the world was luminous.

light
shines
in dark places
Justice
Healing
Joy
overcome
war
greed
self-interest

in me
in every place

please put away the snuffer and nurture the flame
NOW

Advent longings

A wonderfilled seasonal Friday Five from Sally this week:

"Imagine a complex, multi-cultural society that annually holds an elaborate winter festival, one that lasts not simply a few days, but several weeks. This great festival celebrates the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, the prince of peace, a man who is divine. People mark the festival with great abundance- feasting, drinking and gift giving....." (Richard Horsley- The Liberation of Christmas)

The passage goes on, recounting the decorations that are hung, and the songs and dances that accompany the festival, how the economy booms and philanthropic acts abound....

But this is not Christmas- this is a Roman festival in celebration of the Emperor....This is the world that Jesus was born into! The world where the early Christians would ask "Who is your Saviour the Emperor or Christ?"

And yet our shops and stores and often our lives are caught up in a world that looks very much like the one of ancient Rome, where we worship at the shrine of consumerism....

Advent on the other hand calls us into the darkness, a time of quiet preparation, a time of waiting, and re-discovering the wonder of the knowledge that God is with us. Advent's call is to simplicity and not abundance, a time when we wait for glorious light of God to come again...

Christ is with us at this time of advent, in the darkness, and Christ is coming with his light- not the light of the shopping centre, but the light of love and truth and beauty.

What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?

In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings....

In this time of waiting
for the coming of the Saviour
For what do I long?

• For a world where justice and peace are rampant
• For every child to be born in a context of love and concern
• For meaningful connections with family and friends across seas and continents
• To be in touch with nature; to feel the sand between my toes and the wind on my face
• To eat well and share abundantly; and know this experience is universal
  

Spread the Word

World Aids Day. A quick post to remind us that menopausal women are one of the groups most at risk of HIV AIDS, especially in developed nations. Especially women of our generation who followed a traditional pattern of marrying first heterosexual partner and remaining monogamous. Until death or divorce leads to singleness, without experience or knowledge to negotiate safe sex in any new relationship. Of course many women equate condoms with pregnancy prevention, which seems irrelevant after 'the change of life' (as my mother used to refer to menopause). And the sort of middle-aged men that middleaged heterosexual women might choose to date are not necessarily ones they would have qualms about unprotected sex with. It's over seven years now since the article about Jane Fowler was written, but it is the most eloquent and relevant piece that I could find. I am surprised at medical students who assume that people aged over 50 years don't engage in risky behaviour. And surprised that Viagra doesn't come with safe sex warnings. As Monica Rodriguez is quoted in the article, "This isn't a population that grew up talking about sex or condoms or HIV/AIDS. But we can't let our discomfort around issues of sexuality get in the way of conversations about safe sex."

Remembrance

Remembrance Friday Five from Sophia. I thought I was too tired to play but seeing this topic I was instantly engaged and energised.

1. Did your church have any special celebrations for All Saints/All Soul's Day?
No - UCA is not exactly liturgical, at least in our part of Australia. I did attend a 'Blessing of the Hands' mass for our students on All Souls' Day. Homily was about purgatory.

2. How about Veterans' Day?
Definitely NOT in church. We have clear views about separation of church and State and even flags seem to be not allowed. Again though a yes for work - I used McCrae's poem In Flanders' Field as a reflection in our curriculum meeting. And I have worn a poppy all week.

3. Did you and your family have a holiday for Veterans' Day/Remembrance Day? If so, how did you take advantage of the break?
Not a public holiday here. I actually like making the 2 minutes silence in the midst of a 'normal' routine.

4. Is there a veteran in your life, living or dead, whose dedication you remember and celebrate? Or perhaps a loved one presently serving in the armed forces?
My nephew is currently serving in Afghanistan, my uncle served in World War II in Scotland. I recently blogged about my great-uncle who was killed at Gallipoli (serving with the Scots forces). I also have great respect for those who chose the hard path of conscientious objection and who bore the ridicule of their peers and the harsh punishment of their nations.
5. Do you have any personal rituals which help you remember and connect with loved ones who have passed on?
Memory isn't exactly a ritual but I do hold memories and family history very close to my heart. As the next generation of our family begins my sisters and I are more conscious of passing this knowledge on to our children and their grandchildren. Our family is good at attending funerals, which is a very direct way that younger generations learn about their forebears and meet members of their wider family and clan networks.

11th hour 11th day 11th month

I bought a poppy at the railway station this morning and have been wearing it all day.

When I wrote about my uncle Thomas recently I certainly felt in one of those 'thin places' but I hadn't made the intellectual connection that it was so close to Armistice/Remembrance Day.

This year of course marks 90 years since the end of World War One. Sadly not the war to end all wars. But maybe the first time that armed conflict involved so many nations. And taught such hard lessons especially for the colonial nations. And changed forever the lives of generations.

I was 'on' for reflection at our curriculum meeting this morning. So chose Flanders' Field. With the modifications suggested by the narrative of those who saw the original pencilled by John McCrae.

I hadn't realised that this oft-repeated verse was written by a physician. John McCrae was Professor of Medicine at McGill University. Served in the Boer War as a gunner, and in WWI as a medic. More about him and the writing of the verse here.

In Flanders’ Fields

In Flanders’ Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders’ Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies blow
In Flanders’ Fields.

Tomorrow at the eleventh hour I hope I remember to take time to pause and observe silence. Taking up the torch for me means working for peace and seeking justice. The Ottawa Charter sets out clearly the prerequisites for health - peace is the first fundamental condition.

As I think of our students, whose hands were so recently blessed by the Cardinal, I wonder where their careers will take them. What their eyes will see and their hands write. What healing they may bring. What will move their hearts. What torch they will carry and what faith they will keep.

Get on your blue stockings and dance dance dance!

To celebrate the 115th anniversary of women enjoying the right to vote in Aotearoa New Zealand. A great cartoon for the day is posted here. With the gumboot missing! In 1893 the courageous efforts of pioneers like Kate Sheppard led that little country to be the first in the world to have universal suffrage. An excellent historical survey is posted here. I didn't realise that there are women alive today in the USA "who grew up at a time when women were disenfranchised" (thanks Shamaal for that quote). And renew my gratitude for the context I wasn't even aware of as I grew up. The YouTube video I just posted is quite long and more doco than fun - but does give a 'warts and all' overview of women in NZ.

A few years ago I was privileged to meet a member of the Afghanistan Commission on Human Rights. They commented very favourably on the important role NZ Peacekeeping forces had played in ensuring safe passage for women to the polling booths. These young men and women of our defence forces may not have been conscious of it , but they were possibly living out an age-old principle of our nation. Despite my Pacifist stance, I am pleased to support a family member who will be serving in that challenging country before long.

It perhaps explains, in part, the deep outrage felt by our family when we immigrated and found in this new land that the First Australians were able to vote for the first time just 41 years ago. And an interchange from my childhood between my mother and a great-uncle on the situation in South Africa. My Mum had said something along the lines that Africans should be happy if they had a good employer and were well looked after. Uncle Rod made a forceful statement about the right to citizenship and to vote. And this from a man known more for his extreme piety than his social activism. In the 70s. Reflecting back it was probably one of the pivotal moments in my personal faith development.

And while we can and should dance, we need to remember all those women internationally who do not yet participate fully in the governance of their communities. Lamenting with the psalmist and with U2 - How long ...

Relativity

My mother received The Little Red Recipe Book as a Christmas gift from her cousins in 1945. In the front of the book is so much useful information (handy hints, how to foretell the weather, useful measures, antidotes for poison etc) including a table of income or wages. I was struck by the observation that the highest income in the table is 1000 (pounds sterling). I've commented to a couple of people how unbelievable that is. That many people earn more than that in a week now. How hard it is to envision a world where the highest income you could imagine is under $20 a week (just taking a wee bit of license and substituting long outdated currency with the modern version). And then like a thunderbolt it hit me!

Almost half of the people on this planet live on less than $1000 a year. ($2.50 a day is $912.50 a year). And 80% live on less than $10 a day - or under $4000 a year. The disparity that seems almost laughable when viewed chronologically and internally, is heart-breaking and resolve-strengthening when viewed geographically and internationally. I realise there is nothing new in these facts. It's just that the reality has hit me afresh. In a new way. Everything really must change.

On the radio today I heard an interview with the Queensland Premier. Who stated that the responsibility to address climate change lay with private citizens who must reduce their emissions. But that 'trade sensitive industries' needed to be allowed to continue to contribute to economic success and to manage climate change through emissions trading. I have been cynical that emissions trading is a way to avoid actually reducing our addiction to carbon. A sort of prop to look as if we are doing something but in fact nothing is changing. In her interview the Premier certainly bolstered my cynicism.

And so what do I do? Remind myself daily that most of my world brothers and sisters are living with 1940s incomes in a world of third millennium commodities and prices. And live in that knowledge. Letting it work away at every level of my being. Strategically work out how to make a real difference. And work personally, in community and politically to make that difference happen. So help me Godde.

Freedom one step closer at last ...

Wonderful to hear from the Philippines that Pastor Berlin Guerrero has been released from Cavite Prison. What I understand from the news report is that the prosecution now have to prove that there are reasonable grounds for his arrest. Thanks be to Godde!

Six small businesses ...

The bag auction finished yesterday raising $458 to contribute to the microcredit project in West Timor. With an additional ten dollars, and an average loan of $78 to new businesses, this will be enough to support six families into sustainable incomes. The yPod team are still to meet with the Uniting International Mission staff to find out exactly where their money will be invested. I think this is an excellent result for a youth initiated and implemented project that was completed within 3 weeks. As a measure of our community values:

• The highest bid was for the 'Mum's revive and survive' bag (with all the little buttons around a heart). It contained pamper treats for mums, and activities for children
• The two next highest bids were for the 'breakfast' bags. One with rolled oats, tea, raisin toast and marmalade, the other with muesli, orange juice, tasty snacks and marmalade.
• The 'chocoholic' bag was the one with the most bids (contents self-explanatory)

How long O Lord ...

People of faith please join in prayer with our brothers and sisters who are part of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and others who are standing in solidarity with the oppressed. Following a march on the Court of Appeal last week, the case of Reverend Berlin Guerrero was finally assigned after he has been incarcerated for over a year. UCCP has opened a school to serve the children of the 1000 families who live on the Smokey Mountain city rubbish dump. Much more is needed to uphold human rights and develop communities where all can live in safety and freedom.

Assisting natural process

Dying well. Something we all probably want to happen. And to witness or know with our loved ones. In thinking about a possible career move into palliative care, I began to think of this professional role as being like that of a midwife. Assisting with a natural process, using knowledge, skill and experience to work together with all those affected to manage a transition. From one stage of being to another. A role of privilege and of responsibility.

In my previous role in child rights advocacy I read a national review which found that there was inconsistent access to palliative care services for children and their families. On a population level this is not a 'common' health need, but it is one of those areas of health and wellbeing where the impact of the situation means that it is a priority.

So I was pleased to see this month that the editors and editorial board of the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine have decided to have a rolling theme issue on palliative care, dying and bereavement. Dr Rivara says:

Our intent is to bring these issues to the forefront of pediatrics and adolescent medicine, just as they are in the minds of those children and families who are confronted with such loss. We hope the attention of the Archives will advance science and provide help to physicians dealing with these issues on behalf of their patients and families.

On a global scale of course there are many many more children who die needlessly. Their need is not for palliative care. But for the basics of clean water, food, or protection from preventable communicable disease. And for far too many the prerequisites of the basics - life free from conflict, war and environmental degradation. Despite recent improvements, over 26,000 children aged under five still die every day. I cannot rejoice that the annual toll has 'fallen' to 9.7 million.

Yet these are not mutually exclusive issues that we face. Our children have the right to be fully considered as nations make decisions about their health expenditure. AND our children have the right to be fully considered as all nations make decisions about expenditure. On weapons. Or water.

Hug-me-tight

A celebration of a completed work! I'm sure there's some kind of therapy going on as I use assorted inherited needles to knit vintage patterns from the stash inherited from my mother and including some with grandmother's name on them. I did choose to use new machine washable wool though, from Tapestry Craft. I couldn't find suitable buttons in my enormous button jar, so yesterday wandered along to All Buttons Great and Small and found the sweet little flowers.
Now getting on to sewing up calico bags for youth group tonight. They are going to decorate (fabric paint, applique etc) and auction them to raise money for a microcredit project in West Timor. Inspired and backed up by the authoritative evidence base of Numb3rs that microcredit has a 97% success rate. This episode was also mentioned on In Good Faith but unfortunately the link to the episode didn't work for me. May 11 2007 if you want the details.

Slavery and saints

I saw on Oremus this morning that William Wilberforce is the saint for the day. I haven't had time to rent Amazing Grace from the DVD store, let alone watch it. But I have been remembering the movie, and the story behind it, in those moments of stillness throughout the day. Slavery remains such an issue in our world. Particularly in some parts of the Pacific and Asia.

Yesterday I bought an amazing product at ALDI. A4 sheets of canvas that you can print on. It was just what I needed to print out our young peoples' questions for their tree of growth - which I left in the Minister's office and didn't photograph :( Anyway the canvas was made in China. And I bought it without questioning how fairly it was made.

WWWD (What would Wilberforce do?) I wonder. And get caught up in the wonder inspired by this week's Oremus prayer. I just love it. I have printed it out on A4 and carry it around with me each day. A real blessing to me:

Blessed are you, O God,
you are our greatest treasure
and the source of our greatest joy:
Your Spirit continues to form us in the likeness of Christ,
that we may know the freedom of your children
and the assurance that nothing in creation
can separate us from your love,
most fully known in Jesus Christ our Lord.
For these and all your mercies, we praise you:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
Blessed be God for ever!


Blessed be God forever - AMEN

Principalities and Powers

At the NSW Public Health Association meeting last night I supported a motion calling for a formal complaint to be made to the Australian national airline, QANTAS, regarding the decision to sell cigarettes in-flight and to instruct staff to display them prominently on the trolley. I could have shouted crikey when I found this post saying that the new QANTAS non-executive director recently retired as finance director of British American Tobacco. QUANTAS of course denies any link between these two news items. Yet offers no real explanation for this giant step backwards from a commitment TO public health when they removed cigarettes from in-flight sales in 1999.

Vigilence and tenacity are clearly attributes I must continue to develop as I participate in public health practice in this country, and internationally. I understand that Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic all sell duty-free cigarettes in-flight. I am asking airlines to accept a sense of social responsibility over profitability and voluntarily remove such products from sale. For airlines with government funding, such a step would be consistent with national commitments to the World Health Organisation Convention on Tobacco Control.

On a personal level I will be writing to QANTAS myself, and intentionally booking with airlines that take a lead in population health protection. I hope that public service organisations and agencies will follow. And churches????

Be watchful and wary ...

Several people have been blogging about organisational integrity after the issues to do with Dave Walker and a chain of Christian bookstores in the UK. Sam Norton at Elizaphanian has links to the relevant sites and information.

The latest British Medical Journal page includes a video describing very clearly how drug companies recruit doctors to boost market share in pharmaceuticals. It makes me question the independence of recent American Pediatric and Cardiology recommendations that children as young as two should be tested for high cholesterol and treated with statins.

I'm hoping to get some more information and to determine the extent of the evidence base underpinning such recommendations. I take this information as a pointer though, to be ever watchful and discerning about the 'principalities and powers' that influence apparently independent and individual choices.

Cultural complexities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up a high proportion of the Northern Territory population and are very visible in the community. On my morning walk along the esplanade on Sunday I met the artist above, who invited me to see her work at the Mindil Beach Sunset market that evening. Later in the week we met artists selling their work directly to the public at Wangi Falls. They spoke with significant feeling about the way they are treated by galleries, who pay the artist $100 for a work then marketed to tourists for several thousand dollars. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists are allegedly signed up to a gallery and are unable to sell their work independently. At the Sunset market the music was playing and some members of the audience dancing in a display of culture of a different kind.

Our outing on Tuesday of last week started with a drive almost to the edge of Litchfield National Park, and a visit to the tin mine. Fully operational for only a few years, and wreaking serious health damage to those who spent their days breathing in silicon in while mining the underground seams of tin, this mine also seemed to operate as a multi-cultural workplace with both colonists and traditional owners of the land working in collegial, and in several cases conjugal, partnerships. The mine site was well laid out, with a short walking track and well-written interpretive signs giving a good impression of the lifestyle of those early miners and their families.

Our luxurious historic retreat in Batchelor was just along the road from the Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education . The hospitable library staff allowed me to use their internet connection to liaise with colleagues back in Sydney regarding public health education matters. Graduates from the Institute are working in many places in Australia, including many in their communities of origin. Exciting to see such a worthwhile enterprise doing well. In a further twist of history and culture, the guest house was the home of the manager for the uranium mine in the 1950s. The material mainly sold to the US of course.

On Wednesday we visited Adelaide River and learnt more about the relentless bombing experienced in the whole top end of Australia during World War 2. The War Commission Cemetery was sobering, as such sites always are. We walked to dinner that evening at the Butterfly Farm - literally capturing something of the beautiful fauna of the region and run by an Englishman.

WE concluded our trip to the top end with further exploration in Darwin on the Thursday. We concluded our trip with a visit to the excellent Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory where we saw not only the current exhibition, but the outstanding collections of Aboriginal Art with excellent explanatory captions. Such art was originally very sacred and could only be viewed by specific people or groups of people. Much thought and effort has gone into adapting styles of work to make them available to a wider audience. For this I am glad, as the art is awe-inspiring.

All in all an eclectic interwoven set of experiences of history and culture within a relatively limited geographical area. And now I see there is a job advertised in Katherine - further south and allegedly with the lowest petrol prices in the Territory (according to my bus driver cousin who should know!) I am tempted by the climate and the opportunity to make a real difference in addressing the health disparities of the traditional owners and occupiers of this country. But a 5 hour plane commute from Sydney is not really very friendly to the planet. I do have some other opportunities closer to home that I will explore first.

And to conclude: a random trivial fact. Left-handed people are over-represented among USA Presidents, and both the current contenders are left handed. Trivial? YES. Useful? NO. Interesting? MAYBE