Dr. Seema Jain, President of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) along with a delegation of AAPI leaders from across the country reached out to the Clinton Foundation to collaborate on the health issues affecting India. The meeting with Bill Clinton,  former  President of the US and Founder & Chairman of The Clinton Foundation in New York last week, was in the context of the ongoing preparations for the upcoming AAPI Convention in New York in June, 2016. “President Clinton expressed keen interest on AAPI's Obesity Campaign and was appreciative of the healthcare initiatives of AAPI and its members for their ongoing support and collaboration,” Dr. Jain said after the meeting.

 

AAPI leaders with Bill Clinton“We at AAPI are looking forward to working with The Clinton Foundation that builds partnerships of great purpose between businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals to work faster, better, and leaner, will work with AAPI in realizing some of the noble goals we have set before us,” Dr. Jain said. “Together we hope to work towards finding solutions that last, and will transform lives and communities from what they are today to what they can be, tomorrow,” she added, while affirming the common goals of AAPI and the Foundation.

 

Dr. Jain highlighted the importance of AAPI initiatives under her leadership working towards health issues that are of importance to India, particularly on Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases, Trauma & Head Injury, and Mental Health issues, including Depression. Towards this end, Dr. Jain and her team are working to have cooperation and collaboration from leading world leaders.

 

Dr. Jain pointed out the important progress that has been made connecting patients to essential treatment, millions of people continue to die unnecessarily from AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other treatable diseases, access to critical medicines and diagnostics is often limited in resource-poor settings, resulting in dire consequences for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

 

With a view to prevent and educate the public and the government on the need to take measures individually and collectively, to prevent road accidents, during the historical Global Health Summit earlier this year,  Superstar Amitabh Bachchan had pledged to lead a campaign for safety initiated by AAPI during the last Global Health Summit in Mumbai.

 

 â€œI pledge my support for these campaigns and commit myself towards the achievement of AAPI’s worthy goals.  I am here  with you for these campaigns and in any other campaign you might undertake and if my face and voice can be instrumental in propagating these efforts, I would gladly lend the same” the Bollywood Superstar, Amitabh Bachchan,  declared reiterating his whole hearted support to AAPI’s campaign to eradicate Hepatitis and create awareness about Head Injury and Trauma.

 

According to Dr. Jain, Amitabh Bachchan is expected to continue to lead the AAPI initiative in creating awareness on the need to prevent trauma and brain injury. “Amitabh Bachchan is a real life superhero to millions, including myself, so it’s no surprise that he is the perfect person to be the face of AAPI initiative in this very important area,” Dr. Jain said.

 

India is the country with the highest burden of TB, with World Health Organization (WHO) statistics giving an estimated incidence figure of 2.1 million cases of TB for India out of a global incidence of 9 million. It is estimated that about 40% of the Indian population is infected with TB bacteria, the vast majority of whom have latent rather than active TB.

 

Many people with chronic hepatitis C do not show symptoms and do not know they are infected. People with chronic Hepatitis C can live for decades without symptoms or feeling sick. When symptoms do appear, they often are a sign of advanced liver disease, say experts.

 

Road traffic accidents kill more than 12 million people and injure more than 500 million people worldwide every year. Everyday about 6,600 deaths and 3,300 serious injuries occur due to RTAs, according to reports. The global annual cost due to RTA s is a whopping 230,000 million US dollars. Unfortunately India has the dubious distinction of having the worst record of road safety in the world. India accounts for about 10% of road accident fatalities worldwide. According to the Institute of Road Traffic Education Institute of road education, New Delhi, out of the estimated 1.4 million serious road accidents/ collisions occurring annually in India, hardly 0.4 million are recorded.

 

Bachchan expressed hope that the new initiatives by AAPI will succeed. “I am quite certain, with the kind of help and expertise that we have on hand, and with the kind of backing, and hopefully with my involvement as far as my face and my voice is concerned, we shall be able to handle the other program that you have brought here namely Hepatitis.”

  

The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a separate, affiliated entity, works to strengthen in-country health systems and improve global markets for medicines and diagnostics – ensuring lifesaving treatments and care can reach the people who need them the most. CHAI's goal is to transform these systems and ensure they develop into self-sustaining methods of providing low-cost, high-quality care.

 

Plans are underway and the AAPI delegation was in India to plan the events and to work towards collaborating with the Government of India and its various Ministries, Educational Institutions and Corporate Leaders to work collaboratively for a productive and successful GHS 2016 in Mumbai, India.

 

AAPI is the largest ethnic medical organization in the United States and represents the interests of more than 65,000 physicians and nearly 35,000 medical students/residents of Indian heritage. AAPI, a forum to facilitate and enable Indian American Physicians to excel in patient care, teaching and research and to pursue their aspirations in professional and community affairs, is an umbrella organization with nearly 130 specialty societies and alumni organizations.

 

Dr. Jain has called upon AAPI members to join in this historic journey. Dr. Seema Jain appeals to “all of you, AAPI members, well-wishers, friends and colleagues to join this effort and help ensure that we are putting in solid effort towards making quality healthcare affordable and accessible to all people of India.” For additional information on AAPI and its Global Healthcare Summit, please visit: www.aapiusa.org; www.aapighsindia.org.