School to host American Mock World Health Organization
Sept. 27, 2014
The UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health will host the inaugural American Mock World Health Organization (AMWHO) on Oct. 3-5 in 133 Rosenau Hall. More than 120 undergraduate and graduate students from across the U.S. – and from Canada and France – will participate.
The event will provide students with an opportunity to represent a region of the world in a simulated World Health Organization-like discussion. Student “delegates” will take part in political legislation (resolutions) and are expected to make allies and enemies, experience a range of conflicts and compromises, and use diplomatic means to attain their respective goals. Their final resolution will be presented to the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Neha Acharya, a UNC-Chapel Hill senior in public policy and economics who has a strong interest in global public health, is the mastermind of the project. After Acharya participated in the Ontario Model World Health Organization in Toronto last year, in the role of ambassador for the Republic of Korea, she wanted her fellow students at UNC to experience the simulation, too.
Neha Acharya (right), organizer of the AMWHO conference at the Gillings School, discusses conference plans with Elizabeth French, liaison to the dean for special initiatives.
“The whole weekend was absolutely inspirational – life-changing, even,” Acharya said. “The conference expanded my understanding of global health affairs, diplomatic relations and the World Health Assembly. Now, I understand how necessary it is for me – and my fellow global health policy-oriented colleagues – to have that kind of experience.”
Acharya said that when she was at the Toronto conference, she understood from other attendees how “truly prominent and respected” the Gillings School is.
“On my way home,” she said, “I decided that the U.S. needed a mock WHO conference, and that the conference needed to be held at the Gillings School.”
The event’s theme, “Health in the Times of Conflict,” will allow participants to reflect upon various forms of world conflict, specifically how such conflict affects financial, political and health-care systems.
Acharya believes this type of global health discourse is a perfect fit for the Gillings School.
Other event sponsors include UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Duke University Global Health Institute and the SIT Study Abroad program.
Registration to participate in the conference is closed. However, conference organizers are seeking volunteers to help support the three-day event, an opportunity that would allow them to attend events and meet global health students from across the U.S.. More information can be found online.
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: David Pesci, director of communications, (919) 962-2600 or dpesci@unc.edu.
