News for and about the Internet2 community

[Greg Wood <>]

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.