Public Health Perspectives in Pictures

I just got back from a long trip that took me to Dubai , Beirut , Damascus and Amman . I had the opportunity to tour clinics and go on home visits with mobile medical teams that primarily provide basic medical services to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees. It was both extremely educational and heartbreaking.

While on this trip I took two pictures that are interesting from a public health perspective and thought I would share them. 

This photograph was taken in the Old City of Damascus, Syria, and shows a public drinking spot.  There is a metal cup attached to a chain for the public to share, and the writing above it asks that thanks be given for the water.  Closer to home, public health practitioners in Kansas like to point out that in 1909 Kansas passed the first state law to abolish the common drinking cup - the "tin dipper" – in public places and the common glasses beside coolers in railroads. This innovative public health campaign was led by Dr. Samuel J. Crumbine of the Kansas State Board of Health. Photo courtesy Scott Koertner

This is a poster about the hazards of smoking taken in a primary health clinic in Amman, Jordan, that provides free medical care to Iraqi refugees and poor Jordanians.  It is interesting because it depicts not only a cigarette, but also shows a nargila, otherwise referred to as a hookah or "hubbly bubbly.” The nargila is popular in the Middle East and is used to smoke flavored tobacco.  Unlike other countries I have been to in the Middle East, Jordan has anti-smoking posters absolutely everywhere.  Another commonly seen poster depicts the end of the nargila as the head of a cobra. Photo courtesy Scott Koertner

By Scott Koertner, Scott.Koertner@hearttoheart.org

Scott Koertner is a Global Crisis Response Coordinator for a Kansas City humanitarian aid organization – Heart to Heart International – and has the opportunity to travel many places his father says, “he probably shouldn’t go to.” He has 10 years of military service and is trained as a disaster preparedness specialist. He holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and chemistry from Washburn University and will complete his Master of Public Health in the summer of 2008, from the University of Kansas Medical Center. Professionally, he has worked both for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment as the State’s Strategic National Stockpile Coordinator, and for a local health department as a public health emergency preparedness planner.

The views, opinions, and judgments expressed in this message are solely those of the author. The message contents have not been reviewed or approved by Heart to Heart International.