Thai Curry Without the Chili

That's what Fran Baum of the People's Health Movement called talking about primary health care without talking about the global political and economic conditions that lead to poor primary health care. It's mild and bland and not the real deal. This metaphor was one of many shared during the Prince Mahidol Awards Ceremony conference we are attending in Thailand.

Now you may wonder…what does primary health care have to do with InSTEDD? Everything, it turns out. A strong primary health care system is one of the best ways to encourage and protect public health. Robert Woollard, head of the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Colombia, advocates a new relationship between public and primary health. Primary health has focused almost exclusively on the individual, and public health solely on the entire community. Instead of one or the other, he suggests we think in terms of relationships. With whom are we connected? How can we build those connections? Technology may be ahead of the human side. There are already efforts underway technologically to link electronic health records with public health reporting. According to my colleague Taha Kass-Hout, in New York City when they get word of an outbreak, they send an alert to everyone whose electronic health record indicates those symptoms.

As a final, unrelated note, Thailand is an amazing place. It has fragrant juices, from lemongrass to fresh guava and a concoction sort of like a virgin mojito. It also has the usual suspects in terms of American fast food including Pizza Hut, McDonald’s and KFC. (An aside, what are the ethics on links? I really do not want to link you to the Pizza Hut page.) But strangely enough, they’ve been so penetrated by American fast food that they even have Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. Who knew there was a market for freshly made pretzels in Thailand?

Bye for now. We go to Chang Mai tonight for the Mekong Basin Disease Surveillance meeting, and then on to Cambodia.