Helping Children Flourish
While in medical school in New Zealand, where he has lived since he was 12, Roshit Bothara visited the Nepal region where he was born. There, he volunteered at his birth hospital and helped provide checkups for children at a government school.
Unlike the privileged community he now calls home, the Nepalese community was rife with the vestiges of poverty. In the morning, patients formed long lines outside the government hospital, most waiting to be seen for diseases preventable with basic hygiene. At the school, children with cold symptoms were given antibiotics from an aid organization, although most probably had viral illnesses.
“Investing in the health of our children is an investment in the future.”
Bothara asked himself the questions—what makes a good health system, and how can systems be made better? He shared his interest with David Murdoch, then dean of his medical school and a Bloomberg School alumnus. With Murdoch’s encouragement, Bothara developed the Global Health Classroom, a program where medical students in different countries learn about participants’ health systems, cultures, and determinants of health through video conferencing. Now including Nepal, Samoa, and New Zealand, the program has been integrated into several medical schools’ curricula and won Bothara several awards.
At the Bloomberg School, Bothara plans to focus on how to improve health systems and policies to address child health inequities. He plans to eventually practice pediatrics while doing public health research and influencing policy.
“I believe that all children should have the opportunity for good health so they can thrive and flourish in the future,” he says.
