Global Health Initiative: Make a difference with just one vote

Four students from the Medical College of Georgia are finalists in the American Medical Association’s Global Health Challenge (AMAGHC)—an international initiative designed to bring attention to health disparities and care deficiencies among underserved populations across the globe.

Consisting of Team Captain Megha Kalia and members Sehar Ali, Zulqar Islam and Emily Myers, the group from MCG is one of 10 student groups participating in the AMAGHC. Their proposed program, known as the Global Health Initiative, is a way for physicians to familiarize themselves with and better understand health disparities around the world. Their reward should they win (and we hope they will), is to work alongside Timmy Global Health to deliver care to underserved populations in Ecuador, Guatemala or the Dominican Republic.

Myers, who alongside her teammates serves as a leader of the Global Health Interest Group for students at MCG, said she and her teammates decided to compete because of their passion for learning about and working towards ending health disparities.

“We’ve already begun to learn about the health disparities that exist for patients in different countries, but we are eager to learn more and to gain firsthand experience with how we can end health disparities as future physicians,” Myers said.

Winning would give the team an incredible opportunity to do so.

Timmy Global Health, the nonprofit at the heart of the AMAGHC, is dedicated to expanding access to healthcare and giving students the tools they need to become effective physicians, nurses and advocates for public health.

“We believe it’s important for healthcare providers to have a more nuanced view of health disparities around the world because sustainable solutions for ending them are often unique to the people and communities those health disparities affect,” Myers said.

She also said the best way to learn about those kinds of unique challenges is to see them first hand.

“That kind of experience could apply to our careers as physicians, both while we travel abroad to provide care and when we provide care in the United States,” she said.

Voting for the AMAGHC ends Monday, July 30. Votes can be cast once per day, and every vote helps.

Visit American Medical Association Global Health Challenge for more information or cast your vote by clicking the thumbs up for the Global Health Initiative.