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Doctors Without Borders in Niger: New Approaches in Treating Malnourished Children - Live video stream


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  • From: Greg Wood <>
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  • Subject: Doctors Without Borders in Niger: New Approaches in Treating Malnourished Children - Live video stream
  • Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 09:38:31 -0500

Contact:
Paul Keleher
Worcester Polytechnic Institute


DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS IN NIGER: NEW APPROACHES IN TREATING MALNOURISHED CHILDREN - LIVE VIDEO STREAM

The Museum of Science, the Goddard Collaborative and Worcester Polytechnic Institute are pleased to announce a live video stream of an NPR-hosted discussion with Doctors Without Borders at 3:00 PM EST on Saturday, November 5, 2005 through the Internet2 Commons and the Abilene Network.

Join Richard Knox, Health and Science Correspondent for National Public Radio, and Dr. Milton Tectonidis and pediatrician Dr. Jonathan Spector of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), for a discussion on treating malnutrition around the world.

Doctors Without Borders has traditionally treated malnourished children through both supplementary feeding centers for the moderately malnourished and inpatient therapeutic feeding centers for the most severely malnourished. The organization is now moving toward a new approach, enabling medical teams to reach tens of thousands more children. Thanks to a new therapeutic nutritional technology called Plumpy'nut, Doctors Without Borders now treats severely malnourished children on an outpatient basis, allowing children to return home when they would normally be hospitalized. With the help of Plumpy’nut, Doctors Without Borders has a 90% cure rate in its outpatient programs in Niger and has treated 40,000 children so far in 2005.

How does the organization's response in Niger compare to the way it responded in the crises in Darfur or Angola? What does this revolutionary new approach mean for how Doctors Without Borders will respond to nutritional crises and famine in the future?

Hear the story and then discuss the current advances with two physicians from Doctors Without Borders, facilitated by NPR’s Richard Knox.

Go to the Doctors's Without Borders website www.doctorswithoutborders.org for more information or visit the Museum of Science's website www.mos.org.

The program will take place at the Museum of Science, the video stream will be managed by the Goddard Collaborative and WPI.

The internet address to join the conference is: http:// commonsvcg.oar.net/administrator/

About Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in nearly 70 countries. Each year, MSF volunteer doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other medical and non-medical professionals depart on more than 3,400 aid missions. They work alongside more than 16,000 locally hired staff to provide medical care. In emergencies and their aftermath, MSF provides health care, rehabilitates and runs hospitals and clinics, performs surgery, battles epidemics, carries out vaccination campaigns, operates feeding centers for malnourished children, and offers mental health care. When needed, MSF also constructs wells and dispenses clean drinking water, and provides shelter materials like blankets and plastic sheeting. Through longer- term programs, MSF treats patients with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, and HIV/AIDS, and provides medical and psychological care to marginalized groups such as street children. MSF was founded in 1971 as a nongovernmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and bear witness publicly to the plight of the people it assists. A private nonprofit association, MSF is an international network with sections in 19 countries.

About the Museum of Science, Boston
One of the world’s largest science centers, the Museum is ranked sixteenth among the “50 Overall Top-Rated Attractions” in the Zagat Survey’s “U.S. Family Travel Guide” and one of the top two science museums nationwide. The Museum’s interactive, hands-on exhibits and lively staff demonstrations demonstrate the excitement and relevance of science, engineering and technology in daily life. In 2001, the Museum launched the innovative Current Science & Technology Center (CS&T), which offers up-to-date science and technology news stories through staff and guest researcher presentations, exhibits and media. In 2004, the Museum launched the National Center for Technological Literacy (NCTL). With Massachusetts as the first state to develop statewide curricular frameworks and assessments for engineering at all levels K-12, NCTL is helping facilitate a nationwide expansion of technology literacy by working with regional schools. NCTL fosters learning about how technologies are created and used by offering educational products and programs for pre-K-12 students and teachers, creating curricula, supporting an online resource center, and engaging in partnership and outreach with other institutions. As part of its mission of advancing technological literacy, the NCTL is also collaborating with other science centers across the country to create exhibits and programs that engage visitors in engineering, helps them explore cutting-edge technologies, and encourages them to consider and discuss the interactions between technology and society.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 as one of the nation's first private technological universities, WPI is consistently ranked among the top 55 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. Established to prepare students to help drive the industrialization and growth of New England, the university was renowned from the start for its novel, hands-on approach to education. That approach continues today with a learning experience that seamlessly integrates theory and practice. On its 80-acre campus in Worcester, Mass., New England's third- largest city, on satellite campuses, and via distance learning, WPI offers more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, leading to the B.S., M.S., M.E., MBA, and Ph.D. In dozens of research centers and institutes, including the largest industry-university alliance in North America, WPI faculty and students are engaged in applied research in such fields as bioengineering, fire safety, information security, and nanotechnology.


  • Doctors Without Borders in Niger: New Approaches in Treating Malnourished Children - Live video stream, Greg Wood, 11/04/2005

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