But what does it mean, exactly?
asserted
it → mean → what
Having the inner strength to follow a dream when the odds are against you?
asserted
odds → have → you
It boils down to being prepared.
asserted
It → boil → ?
In the world of global health, she says, that means "strong systems, primary care and the ability to respond.
asserted
that → say → systems
Those are the ideas that will guide her in her new job as special envoy for health resilience at the World Health Organization.
asserted
that → guide → Organization
That nonprofit group has been building resilience in lower-resource countries for over a decade, dispatching coaches and mentors to educate and train local healthcare students and practitioners as well as building financial and material resources.
asserted
coaches → build → resources
Kerry's activism reflects seminal moments from her younger years.
asserted
activism → reflect → years
In grade school, she decided she wanted to become a doctor.
asserted
she → decide → school
At age 14, she traveled to Vietnam with her father, former Senator and Secretary of State John Kerry, and was deeply struck by the poverty she saw.
asserted
she → travel → poverty
A high-risk delivery
Then came the crisis in Rwanda.
asserted
crisis → come → Rwanda
Between her third and fourth years in medical school, she spent time in a hospital in Rwanda.
asserted
she → spend → Rwanda
One day she was asked to "be a helping hand" with a woman's labor and delivery, working with a nurse.
asserted
she → ask → nurse
Kerry said, "I'm a student."
asserted
I → say → ?
"The mother was pushing, but the baby was not advancing," Kerry remembers.
asserted
Kerry → push → ?
"The shoulder had gotten stuck, and so we needed to do the maneuvers to help to deliver."
asserted
we → get → maneuvers
She tried to remember everything she could from time spent in a "labor rotation a while back."
uncertain
she → try → rotation
There was no imaging, no specific training either she or the nurse had had for this type of situation.
asserted
she → be → situation
"We were lucky," she says, "Because what we remembered worked."
asserted
remembered → say → what
Mother and child survived.
asserted
Mother → survive → ?
Kerry, now 49, recalls: "I remember walking out of that room thinking, that was extremely distressing — more than that, extremely shocking and terrifying.
asserted
that → recall → that
She could only conclude "this whole system doesn't work."
uncertain
system → conclude → ?
She knew that many of her colleagues wanted to work to improve global health.
asserted
many → know → health
But many of the opportunities involved flying in to perform certain procedures, then returning home.
asserted
many → involve → procedures
"They made a contribution in that moment, but what then?"
asserted
They → make → moment
When she returned to Boston from Rwanda to finish her residency at Massachusetts General, she began hatching the idea of working with the Peace Corps to send doctors and nurses to sub-Saharan Africa as medical educators to train health care workers who could then train others — building a country's internal health care system.
uncertain
who → return → system
Seed's collaboration with the Peace Corps lasted from 2012-2018, focusing on the development of country-led efforts at HIV/AIDS epidemic control.
asserted
collaboration → last → control
In Uganda, for example, Kerry says that her group has partnered with the Ministry of Health to build up emergency medicine by training 30 emergency medicine physicians.
asserted
group → say → physicians
When an Ebola outbreak occurred there earlier this year, she says that these emergency physicians and other specialists were able to train over 3,000 health workers around the country in Ebola case management and infection prevention and control.
asserted
physicians → occur → management
Seed, she says, has taught her that building resilience "is not a daunting task.
asserted
building → say → resilience
If you train health workers, they can monitor and provide healthcare, they can provide surveillance, they can provide prevention."
Building responsive healthcare systems is what her new job is all about, she says.
asserted
she → train → what
"We've been funding disease by disease and crisis by crisis.
asserted
We → fund → crisis
We can be thinking about this differently."
asserted
We → think → this
Her goal is not merely to jump in when a new outbreak occurs.
asserted
outbreak → jump → ?
"If a nation does not have a health system infrastructure in place, they will probably not be prepared to respond to the emergency.
asserted
they → have → emergency
Resilience means building a system that will already be in place.
asserted
that → mean → place
And it also means listening to local voices.
asserted
it → mean → voices
"Countries know what their priorities are to care for their population," she says.
asserted
she → know → population
As the resilience envoy, she wants to make sure there is ample funding so "we more effectively address the biggest burdens of disease."
asserted
we → want → disease
Diane Cole writes for many publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
asserted
Cole → write → Journal
She is the author of the memoir After Great Pain: A New Life Emerges.
asserted
Life → emerge → Pain
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
