WHO BMUN LXVII

In an article released by "The National," a Saudi Arabian publication, an attempt to heal children in refugee camps gave major insight into the decrepit state of mental, emotional, and physical well-being among so many -- after what we might like to deem the most traumatic parts of their recent pasts. According to the piece, "three-quarters of those in Jordan have severe emotional disorders while in Turkey, 40 per cent of patients suffered from bouts of epilepsy. In Lebanon and Turkey, one in six refugees suffer from psychotic disorders." Considering the 2.5 million total displaced children in the region, these statistics are not negligible fractions -- they represent hundreds of thousands of disabled children who lack proper access to medical and psychological care. These outcomes from the trauma of violence, loss, and war do not exist in isolation, either. So many of these ailments are worsened by the environment that refugee camps create: "aid workers s

Conflict in it of itself is not the only cause of mental health rather, it is the complications that arise during and after conflict that cause mental health to worsen. As this article illustrates, there were several Millenium Development Goals that showed a correlation between violence and mental disorders. As a delegate, you should consider these outside factors so that you may develop solutions that encompass the entire issue and not just one aspect. Remember, having specific solutions is key to drafting an effective resolution. Thus, I encourage you to take into account short and long term solutions. This article does a great job of introducing possible long-term solutions such as the improvement of sanitation in post conflict zones. For example, the authors write “A prolonged lack of access to adequate water supplies can cause brain damage, thereby affecting the development of cognitive abilities with lifelong consequences”. Creating a solution to this smaller aspect of men

Hi Everyone! I hope your preparation for BMUN's World Health Organization Committee is going well, and that you are as excited as the dias for three amazing days of conference. I want to share with you something that is important to consider writing a resolution and coming up with feasible solutions for the second topic, and that is subjectivity and emotion. The second topic we are discussing has two challenges: the conflict itself, and the condition of the people going through the conflict. I think that these are two very important and difficult problems to tackle, however in our committee, we will be focusing on the latter.  Something that I have discovered while learning more about this topic is that it is very challenging to understand the situations people go through in conflict and post-conflict zones.  So, I want to share with you some experiences and stories to be able to implement feasible and impactful solutions.  The Intergenerational Effects of War on He

With gene-editing technology advancing at astonishingly fast rates, it becomes difficult to analyze the pros and cons of such a controversy. As the world witnessed through He Jiankui experiments, genetically editing human embryos is not an idea from the future, rather it is occurring today without much regulation or restriction. This article illustrates how science is quickly advancing and unless nations take a stance on this debate, this "ticking time bomb" will continue to pose threats. Furthermore, Harvard University is initiating CRISPR research that has the potential to save the world from fatal diseases however, this research also runs the risk of permanent hereditary complications. In others words, scientists could potentially find the cure to countless diseases but, scientists could also create more genetic complexities that would be passed down from generation to generation. It is imperative that the international community reach a consensus about this field

One of most appealing parts of the rise of pharmacogenomics is how close we seem to be to removing "trial and error" from the vocabulary of medication. It promises the increased efficiency of treatment by skipping the 'kissing a lot of frogs' phase, which would theoretically decrease the average amount of useless prescriptions, doctor's visits, and patients' time spent without relief. Financially, this has huge potential to change the current state of healthcare. However, even after only looking at the sunny side of the future of treating disease, reality doesn't seem to be reflecting the same hope we might have predicted. Myriad, a company originally made famous by its genetic testing for cancer risk decades ago, has delved into designing tests that predict the efficacy of drugs based on patients' genetics. The specific project that's made the most headway is known as GeneSight, which aims to inform care providers about interactions between gene

Hi delegates, Happy Friday! Before conference officially begins in three weeks, I wanted to give you all a quick overview of BMUN's technology policy, so that you all know what to expect during committee. Historically, BMUN has traditionally been a non-technology conference, but in recent years, changes have been made regarding this policy. Technology policies tend to vary by committee, which are at the discretion of the dais. The WHO will be a technology-restricted committee, where technology is only  allowed for the purposes of writing resolutions during unmoderated caucuses and presenting the resolutions during formal caucus. We do encourage you to bring your laptops and tablets to conference if you can, but if you can't, don't worry! There will still be plenty of ways for you to be involved. With this being said however,  only  laptops and/or tablets will be allowed in committee - other electronic devices like cell phones are still not permitted - and  only  may you