2007 Press Releases
International Aid Worker to deliver lecture at UCC, 9 February
"Creating long-term changes in public health - the role of epidemiology
in altering patterns of disease in Africa" is the title of a talk to be
given at UCC on 9 February by Dr Mike Meegan, founder of International
Community for Relief of Starvation and Suffering (ICROSS) at UCC.
ICROSS (International Community for Relief of Starvation and Suffering)
was established in Kenya and Ireland in 1979 by Mike Meegan to fight
poverty and disease in the poorest parts of the world. Since
then, ICROSS has established a long-term presence in Kenya with health
professionals providing health and community development programmes
with local communities.
Currently, ICROSS is building a primary health care centre in the Bondo
district of Kenya, a teeming township with little health or social
infrastructure. This will provide primary care facilities to the local
communities, including ante retroviral therapy for/AIDS. ICROSS
has over 100 interns and volunteers working on a number of programmes.
These range from bilateral programmes such as Japanese and Canadian
Government volunteer schemes to University internships and special
projects. Other ongoing projects include an evaluation of low-cost
approaches to caring for people with HIV/AIDS in their own homes and
the development of a simple scale for detecting children with emotional
and behavioural problems (increasingly common as AIDS leaves more and
more orphans).
The lecture is hosted by UCC's Department of Epidemiology & Public
Health. Dr Catherine Conlon explained that ICROSS has important
links with UCC. "It is hoped that this lecture by Mike Meegan will
further increase student awareness of the links between college life
and the impact that they can have on the developed world both now and
in the years to come."
The lecture takes place on Friday, 9 February at 1pm, Room G06,
Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, College Road. Members of the
public are invited to attend and admission is free.
371MMcS
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