Harvard: International Health

On Friday, March 11, 2011, a catastrophic earthquake resulted in a tsunami engulfing parts of Japan's coastline. That same day, a state of emergency was declared at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which subsequently experienced multiple explosions and a fire. More than 3,600 people have been confirmed dead, but thousands more are missing. This Forum event will examine the "Response to the Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crises in Japan: Disaster Leadership in Action." Gordon Thompson, Michael VanRooyen, Michael Reich, Takashi Nagata, Jennifer Leaning

A series of tents function as Port-au-Prince's primary hospital, playing host to Haiti's ill and injured... as well as to a revolving group medical volunteers making ends meet during the night shift.

On a hill in South Africa's KwaZulu Natal province, near the hall where Nelson Mandela delivered his last speech before prison and the station where Mahatma Gandhi was tossed off a train to begin his life's work, stands Edendale Hospital.

In the shadow of a hill where lepers once lived, a tuberculosis hospital designed for those infected with deadly, drug-resistant strains of the disease is giving hope to a new generation of medical pariahs in the tiny African nation of Lesotho.

The countries with the worlds highest HIV prevalence are found in Southern Africa. In Lesotho, between one in three and one in four adults in the nation of 1.7 million are infected, and life expectancy has plummeted to 34 years.

A 15-month-old baby named Kazabelo lay in a small room where an open door and windows let in a cooling breeze against the Lesotho summer heat. Dr. Furin raised the folds of the blanket that was keeping the flies away, and was immediately concerned by what she saw.

After two hours of emergency medical care the 15-month old baby's condition was stabilized. Doctors then prepared her for the next round of treatment to combat the tuberculosis, HIV, and malnutrition that nearly took her life.

The eastern DRC has been swept up in a maelstrom of violence against women that has swirled for more than a decade. Researchers and physicians from Harvard and its affiliated hospitals are at work in the midst of the crisis, providing care for the women whose bodies and minds are fractured by their experiences.