A blog by Sara Eftekhar
As a first term Nursing student at UBC, it is often overwhelming to see all the new opportunities thrown at you. The first few days of walking around campus, have been non stop information overload and it’s been difficult to pick and choose the activities I want to be involved in.
I have always been interested in global health because as a nursing student, I have always wanted to put my clinical skills to practice internationally. Thus, after nine hours of class work yesterday, I hopped on the bus and attended the UBC Global Health Initiative Recruitment Night.
When I walked into the room, it was already packed with students! It was amazing to see the number of UBC students who are interested in participating in Global Health Initiatives. I found out the students were from all various faculties including architecture, engineering, dentistry and medicine which proves how interdisciplinary global health really is.
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Videsh Kapoor, who is one of the founders of the UBC Global Health Initiative, silenced the room when she spoke from the heart about her personal experiences in India and the theme of global health as a way to preserve human dignity. With her words, she challenged the whole audience to consider the perquisites of health which include peace, shelter, education, food, income, sustainable resources and social justice. She made me think that these perquisites clearly go beyond lifestyle or personal health practices to include social, environmental and political contexts and in order to physically examine somebody as a health care professional, it is crucial to be aware of those circumstances. As a future nurse, I was reminded about the significance of accepting a holistic approach to health in order to understand health injustices around the world and to take action to improve them.
After Dr. Kapoor’s speech, the past participants of the Global Health Initiatives talked about their previous experiences and projects in Uganda, Honduras, India and Kenya, there was even an upcoming project right here in Canada. From the presentations I gathered that The Global Health Initiative is an exciting way to not just be involved in improving health care of people in another country but to also work towards sustainable development. Students from the different faculties put their skills on the field and thought of innovative ways to improve and empower the whole community and see another side of health care delivery. For example, one project involved the implementation of a safe water project by an engineer and other projects involved advocacy, education and training community health care workers.
Yesterday, I left that room feeling very inspired and hopeful. I was inspired to see the number of UBC students wanting to learn and improve global development locally and internationally.
It seems that as technology and communication advances, more and more students are realizing that we are now related to human beings in distant parts of the world in a way that has no parallel in history and humankind is no longer just a biological species but a moral community, increasingly bound together by a spirit of mutual concern, common interest and shared fate.
This is why The Global Health Initiative is a great way to begin to look at the world from a global citizen’s perspective. I would definitely recommend my nursing collogues and students in other professions to become involved in a project abroad.