Mission
The Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health seeks to raise awareness, cultivate advocacy skills, and promote activism in global health issues among Dartmouth students. With support from John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, graduate schools, other groups on campus and other NGOs, we provide a resource for students to learn about and do work in global health.
(1) MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
1. End Extreme Hunger and Poverty
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education
3. Promote Gender Equality
4. Reduce Child Mortality
5. Improve Maternal Health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other Diseases
7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability
8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development
For more information on specific goal targets and to learn about UN organizations fighting toward the goals, please visit the official website. If you have any questions or comments, please post on our Discussion Board!
DCGH and the Millennium Development Goals
In 2000, world leaders from 189 United Nations Member States gathered at New York’s Millennium Summit to reflect on their common destiny in an era of globalization. Aiming to design a blueprint for progress to be accomplished by 2015, this historic meeting resulted in the creation of the above eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), each of which uniquely addresses global health disparities. Now at the midpoint of this momentous endeavor, we are simultaneously faced with titanic challenges and encouraged by glimmers of hope and reverent leadership around the world, even on college campuses. This year, the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health (DCGH) seeks to cultivate this kind of commitment on campus as it spurs dialogue and awareness around the MDGs.In Fall ‘08, DCGH raised awareness about the MDGs by distributing MDG T-shirts (collect all 8!) around campus. The shirts united the campus around various DCGH-sponsored events throughout the fall, including an MDG Fair at St. Thomas Church, the 2 Dollar a Day Challenge, which promoted awareness about global poverty, and finally, MDG Week, for which we invited expert voices in health policy, advocacy, and development to speak about how students can truly rise to the challenge of meeting the MDGs. For more details about MDG Week, please see the Winter edition of Crossroads, the Dickey Center’s publication.
In Winter ‘09 and Spring ‘09, we plan to further explore other dimensions of the MDGs. Please see the events calendar for our latest plans.
(2) MAKING POVERTY PERSONAL
Before we even begin to think of global health solutions, we must understand local realities. To complement and enrich our focus on the Millennium Development Goals, we plan to “make poverty personal”–to incorporate into our campus activities the multidimensional and oftentimes tragic stories of people actually living in poverty. Through stories, videos, poems, and various media, we hope to constantly remind ourselves–and the broader Dartmouth community–why solutions to global poverty and health disparities can only, and must, derive from an understanding of the local suffering that we oftentimes overlook in an academic setting.
(3) ADVOCATING FOR A HEALTHIER WORLD
Beyond raising awareness about global health, DCGH is committed to providing its members–and the broader Dartmouth community–with the tools they need to advocate for positive political change. In Winter ‘09, DCGH will co-sponsor an advocacy workshop event with the Global Health Council in which a panel of highly influential advocacy experts will share their experience on how to work effectively in this field. The event is intended to have a ‘trainer-of-trainers’ spirit, and thus is invitation only. Those invited are not only Dartmouth student leaders in global health, but leaders in the Upper Valley community. The hope is that those attending will have the opportunity to simulate the workshop for their organizations and to inspire advocacy events around specific issues pertinent to their efforts.
(4) GLOBAL HEALTH CONFERENCES
The Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health, with support from the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, now offers funding opportunities for students interested in attending global health conferences, domestically and internationally. Attending conferences enables students to not only complement their education at the College, but to meet other interested students and researchers who will undoubtedly inspire and open worlds of opportunity. If you are interested in attending a conference or simply have questions, please speak to anyone from DCGH or blitz ‘DCGH’. Because resources are limited, we require that students complete an application for funding.
(5) DOING GLOBAL HEALTH WORK ABROAD?
We can help! DCGH recently created a new position, Strategy Consultant, which will serve to help Dartmouth students who wish to do global health work abroad. From researching internship opportunities to finding funding at the College to sharing the experience once you have returned, the Strategy Consultant can be an incredible resource!
