Global Health Conference: Human Rights and Peace in Ottawa

On September 29, 2018, students from the global health program attended the 7th annual Global Health Conference: Human Rights and Peace in Ottawa.

Before starting the program, we received emails from McMaster containing various supplementary sources that would provide more information on global health and allow us to gain a better perspective. Among the information we received was details about upcoming events and conferences.

During classes and on Facebook groups, students shared a collective interest in attending conferences like this one in Ottawa to learn about global health from different angles.

The aim of this conference in Ottawa was to engage students with interactive workshops and discussions for them to become the next leaders of global health. Keynote speakers and professionals from interdisciplinary fields provided real life experiences on their achievements, and addressing challenges, within global health systems.

A student’s perspective:

I caught up with one student, who shared her experience of attending the conference:

“It was so interesting hearing these topics and workshops on global health and brought up a lot of interesting points about child rights, Aboriginal health, the opioid crisis as well as someone who represents Canada on the WHO. It was also great because I recognized a lot of these topics from what we learned in the classroom! So, it was nice to hear them be shed in different light.”

When asked why it’s important for students to engage in conferences like this outside of class settings, her response was: 

“It’s important to engage with professionals outside the classroom, personally, to gain more insight and learn more about your basic understandings. It provides a good opportunity to network and gain those connections for the future not only in your field of interest but just in general. Going to conferences is practice for your professional career. After understanding since you’re meeting experts in these fields from all over, it’s such a great learning experience.”

Raajia Abdur Rehman