A group of Kurdish health professionals from Northern Iraq will be visiting ETSU through Jan. 25.
The university and surrounding community has been asked to present ideas that might assist representatives from the region behind the “No Fly Zone” to improve their rural health care delivery and professional education programs.
Kurds … but aren’t they Iraqis? The Kurds are an ethnic group that span throughout the Middle East and Eastern Europe, not to be confused with Arabs, although many follow the Muslim faith. Although they carry Iraqi passports, they couldn’t be more removed from the current Iraqi leadership.
To fully understand their situation would require an expended history lesson, however an appreciation of their position can be understood by considering the fact that Saddam Hussein has systematically sought to eradicate them through the usage of chemical weapons. His troops gassed hundreds of thousands of Kurds simply for wanting representation in Iraq’s government.
So why are these Kurds here? Several years ago the Baghdad government withdrew all administrative and financial support for health care from the Northern provinces.
The U.S. government is now trying to assist the Kurds who now administer their own health services by presenting ideas that will lead to a strategic plan for improvement.
Yes, but you may ask, why here? To keep things short, ETSU’s Quillen College of Medicine and colleges of Nursing and Public and Allied Health are noted nationwide for the excellence of their Rural Health Care system.
Meridian International (an international aid organization) received a State Department grant to help the Kurds plan for the healthcare situation in rural Northern Iraq.
Through the University’s Office of Rural and Community Health and Community Partnerships in the Division of Health Services, ETSU has been granted funds to engage faculty and community experts to present ideas to the delegation of Kurdish leaders about new health-care management techniques, program-planning skills and ways to enhance their curricula.
The Kurdish leaders will present a lecture about the health care situation in Northern Iraq on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at the Millennium Center at 7 p.m.. This lecture is open to the public.
For more information on our Kurdish visitors, please call 493-7806 between noon-2 p.m. Monday through Friday, or visit www.etsu.edu/kellogg/kurdpart.htm for more information on the Healthcare Partnership in Northern Iraq Program.
Contributed by Darkwa Owusu-Tieku

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