Global Health

Welcome to the global health section. My own study of global health grew in parallel with the HIV virus. As a surgical intern, it did not exist in America. Since then it has hollowed out societies and annually kills 2 million people a year. And we have no cure for it. In this section I explore the fact that 1.2 billion people don’t have access to clean water, that 16,000 kids die every day of easily preventable causes, that pneumonia is the number one killer of children – and that there are ways you – no matter who you are or what you are doing – can make a meaningful difference in the health of people around the world. Check out the pages in this section __ the news, the videos and most importantly how you can get involved – and let me know your thoughts and suggestions along the way.

Bill Frist Receives 2011 NBAA Humanitarian Award

Bill Frist Receives 2011 NBAA Humanitarian Award from Bill Frist on Vimeo.

Bill Frist Flies Missions Worldwide to Help Those in Need

Esteemed doctor, pilot and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist...

Frist Visits Refugee Camp in East Africa

This week I traveled with Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden to refugee camps in eastern Kenya along the Somali border to witness the impact of the most acute food security emergency on earth.We need your help, and your help I promise will make a difference.

Yesterday we visited intake centers just on the border where over 1500 Somalis who walked for weeks with their starving children (over 29,000 young children have died of...

Sen. Frist heads to Kenya to study famine’s effects

More than 29,000 young children have died of malnutrition and disease in Somalia in the past 90 days. We are now on our way to the Horn of Africa to see what more we as a nation can do.

Early this morning, our plane left Washington, D.C., bound for East Africa. I’m flying with Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and USAID Administrator Raj Shah to study the famine’s effects on the lives of more than 12 million people, many of them children.

In fact, it is now being called “the children’s...

East Africa – “The Children’s Famine”

As I write this, East Africa is in turmoil. Roughly 12 millions people, almost 5 million of which are children, along the Horn of Africa are experiencing the worst drought in sixty years. Tens of thousands have already died and millions more are at risk, especially children, who are dying at such a rate this disaster has already been named “The Children’s Famine.” Within weeks, more than half a million children will die in Somalia alone if they do not receive immediate aid and attention and already the under-5 death rate has increased...

Tennessee Global Health Coalition PSA and Recap

On Monday, Hope Through Healing Hands partnered with the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health to put on a Summer Social for the Tennessee Global Health Coalition. Check out this quick video for a summary of the night’s events and the Coalition itself.

Global Health Coalition...

Mother-and-child health challenges persist globally

This Mother’s Day, moms in Tennessee and around the world have more to celebrate than ever before. Infant mortality rates are declining in many communities and many countries. Yet even today, where a woman gives birth determines dramatically different odds of survival for her child. We can, and must, change that.

A baby in Shelby County has a 1 in 77 chance of dying before her first birthday. In some of our rural counties, 1 in 45 babies die. Those frightening rates are on par with Sri Lanka and Mongolia,...

Medicine Serves as a Currency for Peace

Just eight years ago, fewer than 50,000 HIV-positive people in Africa had access to the medicines needed to live. Today, through American-created and -supported programs, almost 4 million people are being treated for as little as 40 cents a day. They are raising their children, building their communities, farming the land and inventing new technologies; most importantly, they are living. All because Americans saw a continent under siege by the AIDS pandemic and took the lead in turning it around.

When we invest in the health of the...

Frist’s Foreword to the 2011 State of the World’s Mothers Report.

“Working together with developed and developing country partners, we reduced the total number of under-5 deaths worldwide by more than one-third in less than two decades.”

When children in developing countries die, we all mourn this loss of life, especially when we know that most of these deaths could have been easily prevented. We are no longer Democrats or Republicans – we are members of the human family who recognize that it is simply wrong for some of our children to have access to basic services that...

Can Africa Make The Cut?

Whenever the U.S. government enters into a state of fiscal austerity, politicians always look for budget cuts from programs they deem to be less important or have little or no constituency. Foreign policy budgets, especially those directed towards Africa seem to always show up near the top of that list.

The left will blame it on the “mean” Republicans who don’t care about Africa. The truth is that Africa seems to benefit more from Republican control of Congress/White House than from Democratic control. Isn’t it amazing that...

Using Health as a Currency for Peace

I just had this video made introducing my message of using Health as a Currency for Peace and thought I’d share it with you.

Health As A Currency For Peace from Bill Frist on Vimeo.

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