Global Initiatives

Nothing can prepare you for your first trip to Africa," says Stephen Spielberg, Professor of Pediatrics and Toxicology and Pharmacology, after going on rounds at Muhimbili Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. While Dr. Spielberg has traveled to medical schools all over the world, and had prepped for his trip by reading Tanzania's health reports and talking extensively with colleagues in that country, the reality of experiencing firsthand the hospital's huge wards, few nurses, scanty equipment, and overwhelming disease left him profoundly moved.

A deeply poor country, Tanzania has only about 800 doctors for a population of over 35 million, and life expectancy has decreased from about 55 in the mid-1990s to 43, mostly due to HIV. "Despite the poverty and overwhelming toll of disease, the dedication and resilience of colleagues—physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and medical students—is remarkable," says Spielberg. In 2005, Dartmouth launched a partnership with Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences through the Dartmouth Global Health Initiative, which brings together DMS, the Thayer School of Engineering, Tuck Business School, and the Dickey Center for International Understanding. "Dartmouth and Muhimbili University are developing a

DMS student Daniel Kaser shares a laugh with a young boy DMS student Daniel Kaser shares a laugh with a young boy waiting for his mother to receive treatment at a Tanzanian health clinic.

"How can we effect change half a world away?"

long-term, sustainable collaboration in health care," Spielberg adds. "Two schools far apart, but true partners in international collaboration."

Like Dr. Spielberg, the students who do electives in Tanzania are deeply affected and inspired by the experience. DMS student Daniel Kaser went to Tanzania at the end of his first year. He worked in an ongoing study testing the effectiveness of a new vaccine designed to reduce the risk of HIV-positive patients

developing disseminated tuberculosis (TB is the leading cause of death among people with HIV). Combining his interests in visual arts and international health, Kaser is creating a documentary about the study. "At times it was really tough, hearing some of the stories and seeing infections and illnesses that are really preventable," says Kaser. "My work in Tanzania really opened up my eyes to the type of medicine that is practiced and needs to be practiced around the world."

In 2005, Dartmouth and Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences in Tanzania officially launched a multi-faceted Global Health Initiative to create an extended program in Tanzania and to address global health issues