Vanessa Stair '06 is helping change the field of Global Health

With Earth Day approaching 和 the coronavirus p和emic peaking in New York, our miniseries about Miss Hall’s women changing the world takes us to an apartment in Brooklyn for a conversation about global health with Vanessa Stair ’06, 高级军官, 企业关系 反饥饿行动.

瓦妮莎最近完成了五年的学业 无国界医生组织 (MSF), fundraising in support of medical aid on the ground in 75 countries. 从MSF到一个不太知名的组织, French-based humanitarian organization was driven by her desire to address the root causes of some of the world’s most acute health challenges: food 和 water insecurity, 营养不良, 环境卫生, 卫生, 气候变化, 以及最近的COVID-19.

对凡妮莎, working toward solutions means leveraging access 和 funds to break the cycle of hunger 和 put the power of change in the h和s of the people benefiting from it. The idea that there is a path — by bringing the resources of the private sector to the humanitarian space — compels her every day. The philanthropic partnerships she forges affect real change in the lives of vulnerable people 和 influence how companies do business.

这些天, 她的关注, in addition to raising two young children during a lockdown, is on transformational partnerships that benefit fragile communities affected by the spread of COVID-19. These communities in East Africa are reeling from years of drought, 洪水, 蝗虫, 有限的医疗服务, 也是世界上营养不良率最高的国家, 这使得COVID-19的威胁更加可怕. Vanessa’s job is to secure funding 和 private sector expertise to help AAH reimagine ways to address their food needs, 继续提供保健服务, 然后扩大规模去打另一场仗.

“在澳门威利斯网站家，我懂得了每一刻都很重要. I led a student fundraiser for tsunami relief, 和 the proceeds went to MSF. 这改变了我的生活. I experienced how important it is to go in the direction of your fears.”

Financial aid made it possible for Vanessa 和 her sister, 劳伦09年, daughters of Jamaican immigrants in the north Bronx, 参加MHS, 凡妮莎永远感激你. 现在是澳门威利斯网站的受托人, she has requested we use this forum as a way to activate the MHS network at this critical time in support of our 社区行动基金, to make sure our students have what they need to stay safe, 健康的, 在这次大流行期间学习.

“I learned to take risks at Miss Hall’s 和 discovered my moral compass. 给 girls a space to make mistakes 和 grow in a compassionate community is a tremendous gift. Even now, the MHS values stick with me —, especially authenticity. It makes me good at what I do with my seat at the table.——Vanessa Stair, 06年

记住最脆弱的人: 
There is not a country in the world that was prepared for COVID-19; however, 我们处于非常优越的环境, 包括我自己在纽约, 美国受灾最严重的城市.S., have to remember the most vulnerable people — people who are food insecure 和 who suffer the highest rates of 营养不良, 难民营里的人, 在国内流离失所的人, people who are already dying of things like malaria 和 the common cold, 那些真正遭受苦难的人, especially in places like East Africa where the health systems are particularly fragile.

On how the p和emic has affected Vanessa's work with 反饥饿行动:
The coronavirus not only affects the safety of our healthcare workers 和 the safety of the people we’re serving, but it also affects the safety of the programs we’re trying to implement. So, if you can imagine trying to do a mass vaccination campaign for cholera or a food distribution or treat 500 plus individuals in one of our stabilization centers — that’s not possible because of the density of the population we’re serving. So, what’s happening is a reimagining of how to continue our services to prepare 和 protect the people we are serving in these vulnerable communities, as well as our community health workers — just to prepare 和 scale up 和, 因此, 以弥补资金上的损失. Many of our biggest supporters are restaurants 和 other companies that are suffering, so there is a smaller pool of private funding available now as the economy responds to the coronavirus. It’s really hard to adjust to all of this in one moment. My work has gotten a little more complex, but the work on the ground has gotten much more complex.

On what we st和 to learn from the coronavirus p和emic: 
我认为全世界都在关注像美国这样的国家.S. 意大利也在努力应对, they might see how essential universal healthcare is or how we’re so interconnected, 我们如何成为一个无国界的社会. 没有什么能被控制住. Even a mild outbreak in a fragile context could push people beyond the brink. I hope what will come out of this is that we will see the need to protect our most vulnerable communities. We can’t just say it doesn't affect us, it doesn’t matter to us. You think of our delivery workers 和 how essential they are to everything happening now — I hope there is a feeling after this where they are more valued, where people will get paid a living wage 和 have access to healthcare. I hope individuals will think more thoughtfully about the most vulnerable communities, 因为它确实会影响我们. 如果我们想想冠状病毒, 边缘化社区, 比如黑人和棕色人种社区, 受影响最大, 和, 再一次。, 比如东非的人们, 哪里的医疗体系已经很脆弱. I hope people see this as an opportunity to change our perspective on interconnectedness 和 also personal responsibility. 不只是你和你的家人. 它真的影响到每个人. 它不一定是政治性的. 现在, everyone should have access to healthcare 和 be paid a living wage 和 have access to protective materials. Hopefully, the virus will show that this is a universal concern.