New Article – Every Body Counts: Measuring Mortality From the COVID-19 Pandemic

A new article, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, examines how relying solely on death certificate data can result in an underestimate of COVID-19 mortality rates, making it difficult to assess the true toll of the pandemic. The article’s authors, FXB Center Fellow Mathew Kiang, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Professors Rafael Irizarry and Caroline Buckee, and FXB Center Fellow Dr. Satchit Balsari, propose ways to…

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September 3, 2020September 3, 2020

Study Finds Rate of COVID-19 in Massachusetts Jails and Prisons Is Three Times the General Rate in the State

A recent epidemiological study finds that the rate of COVID-19 for incarcerated individuals in Massachusetts is almost three times that of the state’s general population and five times that of the U.S. general population. As shown in Figure B (caption below), the study also finds that higher rates of decarceration are linked to lower rates of COVID-19. Dr. Monik C. Jiménez, Tori L. Cowger, Dr. Lisa E. Simon, Maya Behn,…

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August 19, 2020

FXB Center Remembers Elaine Wolfensohn

The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University is sad to announce the passing of Elaine Wolfensohn, who represented her husband Jim Wolfensohn on the FXB Center’s Advisory Committee. For over forty years, Mrs. Wolfensohn was involved in the field of education and arts education while raising her family. Her work in Australia and the United States included teaching in private schools, creating teen tutoring programs in…

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August 10, 2020

Study Finds CDC Population Weighting Distorts Racial/Ethnic Inequities in U.S. COVID-19 Deaths

Table. Percentage Distribution by Race/Ethnicity for COVID-19 Deaths, CDC-NCHS–Weighted Population, and US Census Population and Absolute and Relative Differences Using Data as of May 13, 2020 more detail on content in text

A new research letter in JAMA Network Open argues that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) underestimates the excess burden of COVID-19 deaths among Black, Latinx, and Asian communities by comparing the percentage of U.S. COVID-19 deaths by race/ethnicity with a weighted distribution of U.S. racial/ethnic populations rather than with corresponding U.S. Census data—a distortion that has the potential to affect resource allocation. FXB Center for Health…

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June 30, 2020June 30, 2020

Mental Health and COVID-19 Focus of Health and Human Rights Journal’s Largest Issue

The June issue of the Health and Human Rights Journal (HHRJ) is especially timely with a special section on mental health and human rights. It was published shortly after the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged the international community to do much more to protect all those facing mounting mental health pressures as a result of COVID-19, and the World Health Organization published guidelines for communities to support people experiencing mental distress.…

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June 24, 2020June 23, 2020

New Study Calls Attention to Inequities in Police Violence in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

An article, authored by FXB Center Doctoral Student Cohort Members Gabriel L. Schwartz and Jaquelyn L. Jahn, reveals the stark inequities in fatal police violence between Black and White populations in U.S. metropolitan areas. The article, published in PLOS ONE, estimates rates of fatal police violence for every metropolitan area in the country, as well as racial inequities in those rates. The authors analyzed the most recent, complete data—from 2013…

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June 23, 2020June 23, 2020

COVID-19 Health Justice Advisory Committee Joint Statement Issues Juneteenth Statement

The following statement was issued by the Poor People’s Campaign COVID-19 Health Justice Advisory Committee on June 19, 2020. FXB Center Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett, Executive Director Natalia Linos and Director of Communications Veronica Lewin serve on the committee. Learn more about the committee here. Watch committee members read the statement here. “The United States is facing an important moment in its history. We have entered the sixth month…

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June 16, 2020August 21, 2020

Working Paper, The Unequal Toll of Covid-19 Mortality by Age in the United States: Quantifying Racial/Ethnic Disparities

FXB Center for Health and Human Rights Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett is the lead author of a new working paper exploring racial/ethnic differences in age-specific Covid-19 mortality rates in the U.S. The Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies Working Paper Series published the paper this week. Dr. Bassett collaborated with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Professor Nancy Krieger and Research Scientist Dr. Jarvis Chen in this…

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May 29, 2020June 15, 2020

Harvard University Centers Condemn Recent Police Violence in the United States

The following is a joint statement from the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice at Harvard Law School, and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. Note: please see below for a list of additional co-signers. “We…

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May 22, 2020May 22, 2020

Study: Structural Racism, Historical Redlining, and Preterm Birth in New York City

A new study published this week in the American Journal of Public Health explores the long-term impact of historical redlining on preterm births in New York City. The study, conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Professor Nancy Krieger, Pamela D. Waterman and FXB Center for Health and Human Rights Director Mary T. Bassett, and NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene epidemiologists, found a higher proportion…

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May 21, 2020

FXB Center Leadership Calls for Protections for McDonald’s Employees

In solidarity with workers, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett and Executive Director Natalia Linos co-signed an open letter urging McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski to adequately protect the safety of employees and consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the letter, the experts point to “a pattern of severe shortcomings by McDonald’s,” including failure to provide adequate PPE and to inform workers when they are…

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May 7, 2020

Coordinated and Evidence-Based Easing of Social Distancing Restrictions That Centers Equity and Justice is the Only Way to Save Lives and Protect the Poor During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The following statement was issued by the Poor People’s Campaign Health Justice Advisory Committee on May 3, 2020. FXB Center Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett, Executive Director Natalia Linos and Director of Communications Veronica Lewin serve on the committee. Learn more about the committee here. Point 1: Social distancing measures are working to mitigate the spread of the virus despite the uncoordinated federal response that has led to the current…

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April 30, 2020May 1, 2020

Standing Up Against Anti-Romani Racism During A Pandemic

By Drs. Aluízio de Azevedo Silva Júnior and Margareta (Magda) Matache Across the world, a violent and disturbing trend of anti-Romani racist acts by the police, policy makers, media, and others is putting Romani families and communities at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also attacked when we speak out against this injustice. For example, an op-ed addressing anti-Romani racism published by Libertatea, a well-known Romanian newspaper, was swiftly…

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April 24, 2020May 7, 2020

Opinion: The Urgent Need to Transfer Vulnerable Migrants from Europe’s Largest Migrant Hotspot

In a recent opinion piece, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights’ Director of Research Professor Jacqueline Bhabha and Instructor Vasileia Digidiki discuss the current COVID-19 situation in Greece, the migrant hotspot Greek islands, and what the European Union should be doing to address the crisis. In it, the authors write: “Without effective and coordinated action, the pandemic will immobilize the Union’s most precarious and embattled member. This would…

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April 20, 2020April 20, 2020

Responding to the Domestic Violence Crisis of COVID-19

Photo of outstretched hands, one with a red dot

By Roshni Chakraborty Worldwide, countries have imposed lockdowns and issued stay-at-home orders to mitigate the community transmission of COVID-19. For many, however, staying at home poses a greater threat to their health than leaving. Activists and governments around the world have reported an alarming spike in domestic violence since social distancing measures were adopted. The United Nations has called for a domestic violence “ceasefire,” raising its concerns about a “horrifying…

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April 16, 2020

New Data Visualization Tool Can Help Officials Assess COVID-19 Vulnerability in Their Communities

The COVID-19 epidemic in the United States is already exposing a disastrous convergence of demographic and socioeconomic inequities that make some communities more vulnerable than others. Hotspots of COVID-19 are emerging in urban cities, from New York City, to Detroit, Milwaukee to New Orleans, and Chicago, with the greatest harm concentrated in neighborhoods that are home to Black and Hispanic populations. While social determinants influencing the impact of COVID-19 on…

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April 9, 2020April 9, 2020

FXB Center Leadership Joins Poor People’s Campaign COVID-19 Health Justice Advisory Committee; Calls for Equitable U.S. Response

The following is an April 8, 2020 press release issued by the Poor People’s Campaign. Learn more about the Campaign here. Poor People’s Campaign new advisory committee says prevention efforts, treatment must be equitable The Poor People’s Campaign’s new COVID-19 advisory committee is demanding that hospitals and health departments begin reporting coronavirus cases by poverty and income; race and ethnicity and other relevant demographics including geography to ensure that prevention…

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April 7, 2020April 8, 2020

International Roma Day: The History of the FXB Center’s Roma Program

This year marks the eighth anniversary of the Roma Program at Harvard University. Conceived and built by the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard, the Program has become a leading focal point for Roma scholarship, convening and advocacy in North America and beyond. A key aspect of this, by tradition, is the Roma Program’s annual international conference to mark April 8, International Roma Day. This…

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April 1, 2020April 1, 2020

Dr. Mary T. Bassett’s Statement on COVID-19 for the Poor People’s Campaign

At the request of the Poor People’s Campaign, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, released the following statement on the health equity impact of COVID-19: The United States was woefully unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, and now has the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the world. This was preventable. Knowing the inadequacies of our country’s health care and social…

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March 31, 2020April 2, 2020

FXB Center Director, More than 80 Public Health and Medicine Experts Call on Governor Baker to Stem the Spread of COVID-19 in Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile Detention Centers

Today, leading public health and medicine experts called on Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker to take immediate action to protect the health of those who live and work in detention facilities. The letter, signed by Dr. Mary T. Bassett, Director of François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, and more than 80 faculty members from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School,…

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March 30, 2020

Op-Ed: Andrew Cuomo, Stop a Coronavirus Disaster: Release People From Prison

Harvard FXB Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett

In a New York Times op-ed published today, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Ford Foundation President Darren Walker call on New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo to release people from prison to protect both people currently incarcerated and the staff who work in these facilities. In it, the authors write, “Given the conditions in which incarcerated…

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March 30, 2020

COVID-19: Finding Comfort in Respecting Rights and Protecting the Most Vulnerable

Natalia Linos, executive director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, penned an op-ed that was recently published on the Health and Human Rights Journal’s blog. In it, Linos writes, “poverty, homelessness, human rights abuses, racism, and violence are not inevitable consequences of COVID-19. If they occur, it is because they reflect a moral failure in the way we have organized our societies.” Later in the piece,…

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March 24, 2020

Letter: Aggregated mobility data could help fight COVID-19

Dr. Satchit Balsari, fellow at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, recently co-authored a letter in Science magazine advocating for the use of aggregated mobility data to measure the effectiveness of COVID-19 response efforts such as social distancing. In the letter, the authors write: “The research and public health response communities can and should use population mobility data collected by private companies, with appropriate legal, organizational, and computational safeguards…

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March 20, 2020March 20, 2020

COVID-19: Observations from Spain

Dr. Sergio Aguayo, journalist and fellow at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, recently penned a column about how countries should respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the column, Dr. Aguayo writes about his experience in Spain during the beginning of the country’s response, and calls on the Mexican government to implement appropriate measures to curb the spread of the virus. Read the Viviendo España column here…

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March 10, 2020March 10, 2020

New Research on Socially Assigned Race and Health Inequity, and on Mass Incarceration and Preterm Birth

The 2019-20 Doctoral Student Cohort of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University continues to produce research on important social issues. Is Socially Assigned Race a Useful Category for Monitoring Racial Inequity in Health? A new International Journal for Equity in Health review examines the usefulness of socially assigned race, or the perception of one’s race by others, in monitoring and evaluating racial/ethnic inequities. Authored by…

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March 2, 2020

Op-Ed: The coronavirus could hit the U.S. harder than other wealthy countries

In an Washington Post op-ed published today, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett and Executive Director Natalia Linos write about how the United States’ response to the coronavirus is likely to reveal deep failures and reinforce existing health inequities. In it, they write: “The polarized political climate makes the threat posed by those long-standing inequities far more dangerous. At least three social phenomena…

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February 7, 2020March 2, 2020

Op-Ed: Greece’s proposed ‘floating wall’ shows the failure of EU migration policies

In a recent op-ed, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights Instructor Vasileia Digidiki and Professor Jacqueline Bhabha, Director of Research, write about the flaws of Greece’s “floating wall” proposal to deter migrants. In it, they write, “Like Trump’s wall, it will signal the intent to keep out migrants; and like Trump’s wall it will fail to do so.” The op-ed continues to highlight the harms of Europe’s migration policies and…

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February 5, 2020

FXB Center Stands in Solidarity With Sergio Aguayo

François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights Director Dr. Mary T. Bassett and Director of Research Professor Jacqueline Bhabha recently penned a letter to the Supreme Court of Mexico in support of Dr. Sergio Aguayo, journalist and FXB fellow. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Dr. Aguayo was ordered by a Mexico City court to pay a fine of 10 million pesos to former Coahuila state governor Humberto…

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January 13, 2020January 13, 2020

Press Release: New Report Evaluates Innovative Approach to Child Protection in India

January 13, 2020 For Immediate Release A new FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University report underscores the need for innovative community strategies to prevent serious violations of children’s rights. The report, “Before, Not After: An Evaluation of CINI’s Preventative Approach to Child Protection in India,” authored by Elizabeth Donger and Jacqueline Bhabha, documents and evaluates the harm prevention work carried out by the children’s rights nonprofit…

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January 10, 2020January 10, 2020

New Study Highlights Critical Gaps in the United States’ Special Education System

A new Harvard Educational Review article, “Racial Differences in Special Education Identification and Placement,” examines how the United States’ special education system is failing to serve communities of color equitably from start to finish, from identification to classroom placement. The article, authored by Todd Grindal, Laura Schifter, Gabriel Schwartz, and Thomas Hehir, analyzes the anonymous data of approximately 4.5 million public school students living in three states around the country.…

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December 12, 2019December 16, 2019

Celebrating 25 Years in Latest HHRJ Issue

The December 2019 issue of Health and Human Rights marks its 25th year of publication. Celebrating the occasion, the editors dedicate the issue to founding editor Jonathan Mann and to Albina du Boisrouvray, who, as Mann wrote in his first editorial, “immediately understood, provided the means, and continues to share ideas and inspiration with us.” Published by the FXB Center since that first issue in 1994, the journal is now welcoming…

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November 12, 2019January 13, 2020

Press Release: New Harvard FXB/IOM Report Highlights Need for Better Support for Young Migrants Who Returned Home

New Harvard FXB/IOM Report Highlights Need for Better Support for Young Migrants Who Returned Home For Immediate Release November 12, 2019 A new Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights and International Organization for Migration (IOM) report finds that young migrants who returned home from Libya to Nigeria often face serious challenges in their efforts to reintegrate into society. The report, “Returning Home? The Reintegration Challenges Facing Children and…

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October 16, 2019

Op-Ed: Treating Stigma to Prevent Opioid Overdose Deaths

In a recent op-ed, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, director of the Harvard FXB Center, and Dr. Chad Brummett of the University of Michigan explain how stigma has hindered efforts to address the opioid overdose crisis. Read the op-ed on Bridge Michigan’s website. Learn more about Stigma and Access to Treatment, the University of Michigan – Harvard University summit on the opioid crisis.

September 23, 2019

Climate Week 2019: Addressing an Urgent Threat to Health

2019-21 Climate and Human Health Fellow Dr. Caleb Dresser at the Climate Strike in Boston on September 20, 2019. Climate change poses an urgent threat to our fundamental human rights, including the right to health. An irrefutable body of scientific evidence demonstrates the various mechanisms through which climate change directly and indirectly threatens human health and well-being. Agricultural resources and land use have already been affected by climate change; water…

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September 11, 2019September 13, 2019

The Migrant Diaries: Vathy, Samos, Greece 2019

Wednesday 12th June It’s unbearable. I walk down a steep winding earth path between small tents and hovels made of plastic, scrap wood and blankets, clustered around smoking fires. There is rubbish everywhere, and the smell of human faeces. At one point the path runs beside a high mesh fence, topped with razor wire and cameras. Inside are the familiar white containers and yet more filthy tents crammed in between…

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July 22, 2019

Trauma as a Border Control Strategy

By Jacqueline Bhabha and Mary T. Bassett The United States continues to pull ahead in a xenophobic race to the bottom, making fear and trauma central to its border control toolkit. The list is long: Executive orders purporting to ban Muslims, slashing refugee admission quotas, reversing well-established legal precedent protecting the right to asylum of rape and domestic violence survivors, the willful fueling of deportation fear among law-abiding residents, and…

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June 28, 2019June 25, 2019

Professor Bhabha: States Have an Obligation to Protect Migrant Children

A new International Organization for Migration (IOM) report released today takes a closer look at the deaths and disappearances of migrants around the world. “Fatal Journeys: Volume 4” focuses on missing migrant children. According to IOM data, nearly 1,600 children have been reported dead or missing since 2014 – a likely undercount. Although it is well known that children are one of the most vulnerable groups of migrants, data on…

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June 13, 2019June 13, 2019

Engaging with Health Rights in the Field and Closer to Home

Photo courtesy of the David J. Sencer CDC Museum By Carmel Williams, PhD Now in its 25th year of publication, the Harvard FXB journal, Health and Human Rights, has just published its June issue. It is a feat for a journal to not just survive the economic and academic climates of 25 years, but to hold a position of leadership in the field. Because that is what our journal does.…

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June 11, 2019June 24, 2019

Harvard Chan: This Week in Health Podcast Featuring Dr. Mary T. Bassett & Cecile Richards

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/632666883″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /] The June 6th episode of Harvard Chan: This Week in Health features a special conversation between Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood and one of the co-founders of Supermajority, and Mary T. Bassett, director of the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. Richards spoke about how Supermajority is working to empower women and organize them around key issues related to gender equity, including…

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May 28, 2019May 30, 2019

We Know How to End Maternal Deaths

By Dr. Mary T. Bassett A woman arrives at Harlem Hospital in labor having received no prenatal care. The doctors delivering her baby didn’t realize she had heart disease until she went into cardiac arrest in the labor room. The baby survived. The mother, who was Black, did not. Her death was the first that I witnessed while I was completing my medical training. Unfortunately, the number of women dying…

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April 25, 2019May 13, 2019

London, 1971: The First World Roma Congress

For the past seven years, the Harvard FXB Center for Health & Human Rights has marked International Roma Day. In a guest blog, writer and activist Grattan Puxon (pictured above) explains the history of this important day. An excerpt of the blog is below. To read the full blog post, click here. An Account of the First World Roma Congress Held in London in 1971 By Grattan Puxon | Harvard…

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April 12, 2019

Powering the Personal Health Record: Catalysts and Barriers in India

Harvard FXB’s Dr. Satchit Balsari speaks at the workshop. On April 3rd, the India Digital Health Net (IDHN), a multidisciplinary research and development initiative established to support an Application Programming Interface-enabled (API) federated health data architecture in India, convened a workshop in New Delhi to learn from the several initiatives across the country that are building components of what may ultimately become India’s health tech grid. The workshop was organized with support…

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April 4, 2019April 12, 2019

International Roma Day: Lifting Neglected Voices

Note: This post has been updated to includes photos from Neglected Voices: The Global Roma Diaspora April 8th marks International Roma Day, a day we celebrate Romani people across the world. Romani people, who have origins in North India, have made distinct and important contributions to Europe and the Americas in many fields, including literature, arts, crafts, music, science, and sports. International Roma Day is also a time to increase awareness…

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March 25, 2019March 25, 2019

New Cross-Sectional Study: Primary Health Care Utilization Among Syrian Refugee and Lebanese Women

Lebanon, the country with the highest per capita ratio of refugees, is heavily burdened by the crisis in Syria. As of December 2018, an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees are living in Lebanon, two-thirds of whom are registered with the Lebanese government. Previous studies have found that the crisis has disproportionately affected poor and underserved areas in Lebanon, contributing to social tensions between Lebanese people and Syrian refugees and driving…

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February 11, 2019November 12, 2019

New Harvard FXB Report “Before Not After”: An Evidence-Based Assessment on Preventing Harm to Children

Most interventions designed to protect children from serious harm begin after that harm has occurred. Preventing the harm in the first place would be a far preferable strategy. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in history – recognized this thirty years ago. It requires states to take measures to prevent violence, abuse, injury, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation to children…

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January 7, 2019

Child Protection: Harvard FXB Online Course through HarvardX

Do you want to learn about child protection through a child-centered systems approach to prevention and response? Then our new online course may be for you. The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University (Harvard FXB) is delighted to announce the launch of a new free online course: “Child Protection: Children’s Rights in Theory and Practice” in cooperation with Harvard’s online initiative, HarvardX. The course is currently open…

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December 24, 2018December 24, 2018

We Celebrate Working Together For a More Equitable World

Best wishes for peace, health, and justice in 2019. From all of us at Harvard FXB.

December 20, 2018December 20, 2018

One in One Hundred: Roma Value Education But Face Racism in Access

One in One Hundred: Drivers of Success and Resilience among College-Educated Romani Adolescents in Serbia New report on factors for success among Romani college students challenges the narrative of Roma indifference to education For immediate release: December 20, 2018 One of the major factors in whether Roma adolescents continue on to university is if they have significant support from a non-Roma teacher or peer in combatting everyday racism in school,…

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December 9, 2018December 13, 2018

Changes to Public Charge Regulations: A Threat to Immigrant and Public Health

Panelists: Andrew Cohen, JD; Leah Zallman, MPH, MD; Lara Jirmanus, MPH, MD. On December 5, Harvard FXB sponsored a panel on proposed changes in regulations around public charge and immigration. Dr. Lara Jirmanus, Andrew Cohen, and Dr. Leah Zallman presented; Professor Nancy Krieger moderated the panel and the lively question and answer session afterwards. Below is a summary of the highlights along with further information about making public comments and…

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December 4, 2018December 10, 2018

Commenting on Regulations, an Example: Proposed Change to Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility

By Susan Lloyd McGarry Many in the public health community have concerns about the possible effects of proposed changes in regulations related to how US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security (US CIS, DHS) determines “public charge” as grounds to deny immigration visas and permanent residence. Harvard FXB sponsored an event in which experts discussed those concerns (read highlights of the event here). December 10 (coincidentally the seventieth…

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