Public Health Crisis at the Border: The Mexican Perspective

Date: 

Thursday, November 7, 2019, 12:00pm to 4:00pm

Location: 

CGIS South, S020

The Trump Administration's new ‘remain in Mexico’ policy is causing an influx of migrants waiting on the Mexican side of the border. By the time they reach the border, many migrants are traumatized, have untreated chronic diseases and are in need of medical treatment. 

In response to this dynamic situation, The Harvard Global Health Institute, The Woodrow Wilson Center, Boston College School of Social Work, The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Harvard University Mexican Association of Students, will convene key policymakers, experts and frontline workers to discuss the current conditions on the border, extrapolate applicable lessons learned from other crises, and identify approaches to ensuring basic health coverage for this vulnerable population. 

This event is the second in a series, following 'The Public Health Crisis on the U.S Border: A Call for Action' hosted by the Harvard Global Health Institute.

RSVP here

Welcome Remarks  12:00 – 12:15 PM  Stefanie Friedhoff, Director of Content and  Strategy, Harvard Global Health Institute   

Keynote Speaker  12:15 – 1:00 PM  Dr. J. Eduardo González-Fagoaga, Assistant  Professor, Mel & Enid Zuckerman College  of Public Health, The University of Arizona 

Panel 1​: ​Understanding the  Needs on the Ground: Voices  from the Frontline of the  Northern Mexican Border  1:00 – 2:15 PM  ● Adolfo Flores, National Security  Correspondent for Immigration,  Buzzfeed News  ● Julie Qashu, Emergency Medicine  Nurse, Volunteer  ● Alejandro Olayo-Mendez, Assistant  Professor, Boston College School of  Social Work  ● Father Javier Calvillo, Director of Casa  Del Migrante  ● Moderated by ​ : Ieva Jusionyte, Assistant  Professor of Anthropology & Social  Studies, Harvard University 

Break  2:15 – 2:30 PM  - 

Panel 2: ​What Works and What  Doesn’t: Lessons Learned from  Providing Care to Vulnerable  Populations  2:30 – 3:45 PM  ● Eunice Rendón, Representative,  Chicanos por la Causa  ● Thomas Crea, Associate Professor and  Assistant Dean of Global Programs at the  School of Social Work, Boston College  ● Paul Spiegel, Director, Center for  Humanitarian Health, John Hopkins  University (​joining remotely ​ )  ● Kiryn Lanning, ​Senior Technical Advisor for Emergencies, Violence Prevention & Response, International Rescue Committee  ● Moderated by ​ : Jacqueline Bhabha,  Director of Research, FXB Center for  Health & Human Rights, Harvard  University   

Closing Remarks  3:45 – 4:00 PM  Rachel Schmidtke, Program Associate,  Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center  

Presented in collaboration with Harvard Global Health institute; Wilson Center, Mexican Institute; and Boston College, School of Social Work

See also: Cambridge, Mexico