Hello,
My name is Ahmad Saleh and I just turned 23 last October. That wasn’t as exciting as me writing my first blog ever right now. Thinking back on it, it actually took me 3 days to come up with that previous sentence (I really should have gone for something more inspiring I guess). Anyway, I’m from Lebanon which is somewhere around the lower top 200 countries in respect to size. As for the Lebanese society, it is highly diverse in terms of religious, political and cultural backgrounds. But it remains a moderately conservative one nonetheless.
I am currently pursuing my masters’ degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology and bio-statics. I volunteer at several organizations such as the Red Cross (a social and EM service provider NGO) and Helem (an LGBT advocacy NGO). I have been a so-called activist since 2004.
What drew me to show interest in issues of HIV/AIDS would mainly be the extent of burden that is caused by the disease. Out of all the communicable diseases incidents that are projected to decrease over the next 20 years, HIV/AIDS mortality is projected to actually double and claim 117 million lives over a 25 years period. This is a serious public health threat and direct drawback on all the accomplishments that we as a human race have accomplished. What is even more absurd is how that accessibility can alter this situation. Complying to international agreement and current agendas on universal access which work to increase worldwide ART coverage can lead to a 3% decrease in incident cases and lower overall mortality to 89 million deaths, “a saving of 28 million lives” (Mathers et al., 2006).
In that sense I find myself more interested in the aspects of consistent treatment from the viewpoint of health as a basic right to all. Another interest I have in the context of the HIV/AIDs is the right in knowledge and awareness on the possible risks and methods of protection and preventions as bodily rights.
My criticism on the current efforts that are being carried out in Lebanon is that it’s mostly inconsistent and highly fragmented. There is no uniform national agenda that the different parties (whether being governmental, grass-root, or international) can abide to. Moreover, all the efforts that are carried out are out encoded into the literature through ongoing research and publications. This is the change that I want to see in my country. I want to see field work, and perceptions being translated into words and numbers and shared among all the different parties so that all those valuable lessons that are learned are translated into more efficient and progressive efforts to truly estimate the nature of the epidemic in Lebanon and possibly among the nearby region.
Well, this is it from me for now. I hope this blogging gets easier as I get more familiar with it (I guess it really doesn’t help having such a short concentration span).
Cheers
....Me....last december
6 comments:
Hey Ahmad! Great post, thanks so much for sharing! It can be intimidating to blog and put yourself out in the world like this, so thanks for doing this :) Great to learn more about you and your interests. Interesting to hear about your thoughts on the HIV response situation in Lebanon. Also, I've heard great things about Helem! Cool that you are involved with them. Looking forward to get to know your work further! Cheers,
Alex
Hey Ahmad! This is a great post for a first time blogger! What do you think are some of the reasons that the HIV response in Lebanon is so fragmented?
Hmmm....I came across something with my reading called the "Three Ones". A very interesting concept to be honest. In Lebanon, I guess we can call it the "Infinite infinity".
The problem is that everyone is working on a separate agenda. The lessons learned remain within the context of the organization/program/institute (assuming that these parties do follow an evaluation-correction process).
So i guess the real reason for the fragmentation of the HIV response in Lebanon would be the striking lack of any form of real synergy.
Anyway, I'm planning to post something about this pretty soon after I finish the proposed assignments for this week! :)
Great Post Ahmed :) I totally agree with you about what is keeping the HIV response so fragmented is lacking of Synregy and wasting of resources for lebanon and other countries in our region ( MENA) , speaking from Egypt , lack of correct and reliable statistics as well plus the socio-culturla norms that do hinder the response and action for HIV/AIDS prevention.
I totally admire Helem and what they are doing in Lebanon, but we have been trying to get inspired and do something like that here , but I guess we will need to tackle loads of these norms first plus using the culturally appropriate appoaches without comprmising our message.
Talk later ;)
Wesam
hello
hope youre doing great, i would want to ask you somthing what do u think make it worthy to volunteer in community , how does it make you feel??
Hmmm...For me, I have to say that volunteering and civic engagement have come to be a part of who I am. It gives me a sense of relief from the apathy in my community, you actually feel like you are being a part of the difference and the change. It runs much deeper than that though...I can tell you about the good people that I meet who just like me want to give away for a better way of life, and about the different perspectives that you get to see the community and the world around you and so on...
For me, volunteering is a very important issue that has come to define my very aspirations. And most of all, it allows us to stop nagging about the ill matters around us and actually do something to fix it. you know?! I hope I am making sense :)
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