Global Commitment to the Health of All

By Jeff Miller

Global health has become the new medical catchphrase in a world gone flat. But for at least the past century, UCSF’s scientific and medical achievements — from lung surfactant to protease inhibitors — have spread across the planet, helping countless people live longer and better. Technology has now knit the world together in ways that shrink the geography of disease and sharpen health disparities. Not surprisingly, UCSF researchers, educators and policymakers have reacted to this shift with a host of new initiatives designed to acquire, gather, transmit and share knowledge with health organizations, government and non-government agencies, and sister universities in other countries — and also to learn from that experience. Their ultimate goal: to save lives and improve the health of all. Here is a sampling of the initiatives, studies and stories that stamp humanitarian on the UCSF passport.

Global Health Leader

Haile Debas, MD, former UCSF chancellor and dean of the School of Medicine, and currently executive director of UCSF Global Health Sciences speaks about why UCSF has risen to prominence as a global player and what the future holds for a University of California systemwide School of Global Health.

UCSF’s International Programs

UCSF’s overseas initiatives range from the formal to the entrepreneurial, making a comprehensive list of everything being done in the UCSF name difficult to compile. Here is an overview of how the people of UCSF are making their presence known throughout the world.

  • Improving Malaria Surveillance and Control in Uganda
  • Translational Studies of Anti-malarial Drug Resistance
  • Center for International AIDS Support, Training, and Evaluation (CIASTE) / University Technical Assistance Project in Support of the Global AIDS Program (GAP), operating in the following countries: Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Vietnam
  • AIDS, Stigma and Gender: Health Consequences in Urban India (Maria Ekstrand, PhD) [PDF description]
  • The Cambodian Young Women’s Health Study (Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD) [PDF description]
  • Chemoprophylaxis for HIV Prevention in Peruvian Men [PDF description]
  • Context and Correlates of Health Behaviors in South India [PDF description]
  • Couples-Based HIV Prevention in South Africa [PDF description]
  • Developing a Comprehensive Couples-Based Intervention in South Africa [PDF description]
  • Effects of HIV/AIDS Stigma on Use of Services by Pregnant Women in Kenya [PDF description]
  • Epidemiologic Studies for HIV Prevention Research in Bangkok, Thailand [PDF description]
  • Epidemiologic Studies for HIV Prevention in Phnom Penh, Cambodia [PDF description]
  • Family-Based HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing in Patients at Risk for Tuberculosis [PDF description]
  • HIV Prevention Among Township Men Who Have Sex with Men in South Africa [PDF description]
  • HIV Risk Behaviors Among Japanese Men Who Have Sex with Female Sex Workers in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar [PDF description]
  • Maternal Health and Maternity Services in the Context of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Kisumu, Kenya [PDF description]
  • NIMH Collaborative HIV/STD Prevention Trial in Peru [PDF description]
  • NIMH Project Accept: A Phase III Randomized Controlled Trial of Community Mobilization, Mobile Testing, Same-Day Results and Post-Test Support for HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa and Thailand [PDF description]
  • REAC: Prevalence and Duration of False-Positive HIV Test Results in Acute Malaria [PDF description]

Mental Health in India

In March 2007, Peter Ferren, MD, MPH, an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry, traveled to Vellore, India, as the first Global Health Faculty Scholar. Ferren details his experience in an interview.

School of Nursing International Projects

School of Nursing International Projects [PDF]

UCSF in Tanzania

UCSF has multiple programs and projects in the East African country of Tanzania. The primary Global Health Sciences program is focused on academic twinning. Other projects include HIV/AIDS prevention research, consulting on curricula for the African Institute of Science and Technology campus in Arus ha, and HIV/AIDS education and training, among others.

Disease-Based Research with Global Implications