MDG Week: Jen Kates ’88 and Tommy Clark ’92

In Fall 2008, the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health co-hosted the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) week along with Millenium Campus Network [link to MCN] and the Dickey Center for International Understanding. The following articles on the MDG week speakers were written for Standpoints. A compilation of these appeared in Crossroads (Vol. 11, no.2), published by the Dickey Center.


MDG Week: Jen Kates ’88 and Tommy Clark ’92
By Benjamin Campbell ’10
After hearing from Sam Vaghar and David Rice about their efforts to address global poverty, we turned to another part of the story on Day Three.  Particularly, we heard from two highly influential alumni, Jen Kates ’88 and Tommy Clark ’92, who have done much in the way of addressing the sixth Millennium Development Goal: combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other major diseases.
Kates, Vice President and Director of HIV/AIDS policy at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, spoke about how the media plays a critical role in health policy making.  One unique experience she had with the directors of the hit show Grey’s Anatomy revealed how health policy and the media are inextricably linked.  The directors, contacting her for information regarding mother-to-child transmission of HIV, planned to sensationalize and falsify information, but Kates and others at the Kaiser Foundation ensured that the message was clear: there are medications that significantly lower the chance of a mother passing the virus to her child. A study of viewer understanding before and after the episode revealed that awareness about HIV transmission from mother to child increased dramatically.  Concluding, Kates emphasized that the Kaiser Foundation is committed to providing reliable information on a local and global scale.  But good information is not always enough.  Kates said that despite the statistics and the clear need for help in the developing world, accomplishing the MDGs still requires money.  And in this uncertain global economy, she said, it is hard to tell whether or not world leaders can sustain their commitment.
But in this economic downturn, it is more important than ever to promote leadership at the local level.  Dr. Tommy Clark, Co-founder and Executive Director of Grassroot Soccer, spoke about the importance of local role models in the fight against HIV and AIDS.  Grassroot Soccer, centered on this role model theory, seeks to teach youth about HIV prevention through interactive soccer games.  The organization has expanded tremendously in the past years, starting in Zimbabwe and reaching many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Dr. Clark ended by emphasizing a point that resonated throughout MDG Week:  students, and the youth of this world, have the power to combat global health disparities and social injustices.  In order for us to accomplish the MDGs by 2015, students of the current generation need to view themselves as leaders in this global effort.

MDG Week: Jane Goodall

In Fall 2008, the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health co-hosted the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) week along with Millenium Campus Network [link to MCN] and the Dickey Center for International Understanding. The following articles on the MDG week speakers were written for Standpoints. A compilation of these appeared in Crossroads (Vol. 11, no.2), published by the Dickey Center.


MDG Week: Jane Goodall
By Daniel K. Whalen Jr. ’12
Dartmouth College was pleased to welcome highly acclaimed author and activist Jane Goodall to campus on Tuesday, November 11, 2008. Dr. Goodall began her talk by greeting the audience with the distance call of the Chimpanzee. She recounted the story of how she became the renowned woman that she is today. She attributed her success to the numerous people who helped her along the way. Dr. Goodall had always dreamed of going to Africa and living with the animals there, and was never discouraged by her circumstances. She finally got the opportunity to travel to Africa while working as a waitress. While in Africa, she met Dr. Louis Leakey and eventually was given the opportunity to go into the forest of Central Africa and observe Chimpanzees in their natural environment. It was during this observation that she made her first groundbreaking discovery; she observed a chimp using a stick to get ants out of an anthill. At that time, it was thought that one distinction between animals and humans was the latter’s ability to engineer tools. Her observation, however, was a direct contradiction and disproved the prevalent theories.
Throughout Dr. Goodall’s talk, her love and passion for chimpanzees was clear. She truly believes in the ability to learn about the human race from the study of chimps. Moreover, she is passionate about the conservation of all animals. Dr. Goodall continues her work through the Jane Goodall Foundation. According to its website, the Foundation serves to “increase primate habitat conservation, increase awareness of, support for and training in issues related to our relationship with each other, the environment, and other animals, and expand non-invasive research programs on chimpanzees and other primates, promote activities that ensure the well-being of chimpanzees, other primates and animal welfare activities in general by advancing the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment for all living things.”