✨ Turning Vision into Action: Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt’s Legacy in Health Equity & Human Rights ✨
This month we mark the 76th Anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) — a momentous occasion that reminds us of Eleanor Roosevelt's enduring legacy. She brought to life a document that has been a guidepost for dignity, freedom and justice for all.
I coauthored an article 👇 with Anna Fierst, Chair of the Board of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill and great-granddaughter of Eleanor Roosevelt herself. We reflected on how the principles of the UDHR align with the critical mission we are pursuing at Meharry Medical College.
🔗 Bridging Health Equity and Human Rights
Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home…” Today, those small places include underserved communities where health equity remains a distant reality for many. This partnership between the Eleanor Roosevelt Center and Meharry School of Global Health is a clarion call for action, a commitment to ensuring health is treated not as a privilege but as a universal human right.
🌍 Expanding Horizons: A Partnership Across Borders
Our collaboration goes beyond U.S. borders. Recently, Meharry signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in South Africa, creating a global framework for knowledge exchange, vaccine research and public health education. This partnership underscores a shared vision of a world where human rights and health equity are not aspirations but realities for all.
🗽 Celebrating Legacy, Advancing Impact
This month, we will join hands at the Eleanor Roosevelt Statue in Washington, D.C., to strategize on innovative approaches to dismantling health disparities and promoting human rights. It’s a symbolic reminder that our mission starts “close to home” but resonates globally.
🌟 Why It Matters
Health disparities disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, making it imperative for institutions like Meharry Research and Innovation to lead the charge in advocating for equitable access to healthcare. By uniting Eleanor Roosevelt’s legacy of human rights with Meharry’s expertise in public health, we are creating pathways for systemic change that will ripple across generations.
💬 Join Us!
As we commemorate this anniversary, I invite you to join our journey. Share your thoughts, amplify this mission and stand with us in the fight for justice, dignity, and health equity. Together, we can transform aspirations into action.
The power of human rights lies not in the documents we draft, but in the lives we uplift. Let’s honor Eleanor Roosevelt by turning her vision into action.
#HumanRightsDay #HealthEquity #MeharryMedicalCollege #EleanorRoosevelt #UDHR76 #GlobalHealth #PartnershipsForChange
United Nations Academic Impact
