Health care in a developing country

When
October 06, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
2100 E 71st Street Indianapolis, IN 46220
Registered
3 registrants

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Speaker: Birgit Priest

The talk describes the health statistics and health care system in Honduras in contrast to that in the US. Maybe surprisingly life expectancy is only 4 years less in Honduras despite poor access to health care. It also describes the fairly unique approach of the non-profit Global Brigades to supply health care to underserved rural populations through volunteer medical brigades, and training of community health workers.

Our Speaker is a scientist involved in pharmacology research and is passionate about helping others and finding sustainable solutions.

Program: Healthcare in a Developing Country

Speaker: Birgit Priest, PhD, Research Advisor, Eli Lilly, and Company

Introduced By: Ron Priest

Attendance: NESC: 84; Zoom: 23

Guest(s): Sherri Judd, Dean Pfeifer, Gordon Mendenhull

Scribe: Russell Judd

Editor: Ed Nitka

Talk’s Zoom recording found at: https://www.scientechclubvideos.org/zoom/10062025.mp4

The topic of today's talk was "Health Care in a Developing Country - Honduras" and how it differs from that of the United States. The speaker was Birgit Priest, a member of the Scientech club. Birget received training in chemistry and biophysics at the University of Tubingen in Germany. She is a scientist and has been employed at Merck but now is at Eli Lilly. Her talk today compared health care in Honduras to that of the United States. The life expectancy in Honduras is just 4 years less than that of the U.S. despite much less access to care in Honduras. She described a unique approach of non-profit Global Brigades supplying healthcare to underserved rural populations through volunteer medical teams and the training of community health workers.

Public health remains a concern wherever you live. In the U.S. we are having gun violence and riots these days. In Honduras, sanitation and access to water are a concern. Honduras is about the size of Virginia. In Honduras there are 10 doctors for every 10,000 people; there are 23 doctors per 10,000 people in the U.S. Healthcare expenditure in Honduras is $193 per capita. In the U.S it is $8608 per capita. Because of having fewer doctors and less money, there is a great problem with access to care. To help fill this gap, the idea of Global Brigades was introduced. This idea was started by students at Marquette University in 2003; it is a non-profit. These groups are composed of volunteers doing projects to improve health care. They work alongside community workers. Birgit showed several examples of projects in Honduras, such as improving water supply and improving sanitation.

Thanks, Birgit for showing us some of the difficulties small countries have and an interesting and effective way of helping.

Birgit Priest

The Scientech Club provides a forum for weekly presentations and discussions in science, technology, and other topics. The Club meets most Mondays at the Northside Events Center and Social Club (2100 E. 71st Street, Indianapolis, IN 46220.