The key to removing the stigma surrounding mental illness can be summarized in one word — empathy.

“If I could inspire a little bit of empathy toward this issue, my work is complete,” said Delany Ruston, a physician and filmmaker from Seattle.

Ruston says that global mental illness is not very different from the mental illness that is around us in the US. The woman we avoid at the bus stop, the man muttering to himself on the sidewalk; these people are often hidden from view, not only because we choose not to see them but also because they are tucked away by society.

“Global health and social movements must be anchored at the local grassroots level,” said Walter G. Flores, the first panelist to speak this Sunday at the WRIHC’s final plenary session.

Flores, who works for the Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Healthcare Systems, was one of four distinguished keynote speakers who wrapped up this weekend’s global health conference in the spirit of social justice and activism.

Sean Bernfeld, a first-year medical student on the Global Health Immersion Program (GHIP), went to Uganda to work with Hospice Africa Uganda, which provides support for patients with HIV/AIDS and cancer.  Bernfeld said he wasn’t sure what he was going to do while he was there, but he had brought his camera, and a photo project was born. 

In the fall, Health Equity Circle (HEC) students are working directly with Sound Alliance under the supervision of Dr. Rick Arnold to offer UCONJ 624: Health Equity and Community Organizing in Autumn 2014. This course will equip students from the six health sciences schools to work together to develop community organizing skills focused on upstream action for health equity.