Innovation in Humanitarian Work During Geopolitical Crisis with Dr. Mohammad Haqmal

Innovation in Humanitarian Work During Geopolitical Crisis with Dr. Mohammad Haqmal Dr. Chris Stout, Dr. Mohammad Haqmal 1:12:58

Dr. Mohammad Haqmal, is the former Chief of Public Health for Afghanistan, where he developed a series of groundbreaking programs and has received the Afghanistan National Public Hero Award – twice. He is a medical doctor by training and also holds master’s degrees in Business Administration, Public Health, and Global Health. Before all this, he and his mother had to flee Afghanistan when he was five to live in a refugee camp in Pakistan; they were the only two of his family who survived the attack and managed to escape.

Currently he is a lecturer at the University of London, and at the time of our conversation was in the process of joining the faculty of the University of Cambridge. He’s also involved in a number of research projects based in the UK, he serves as a columnist at Arab News, and he has a forthcoming new book.

Dr. Haqmal shared his experiences as the Chief of Public Health and many innovative projects that were inclusive, community-based, respectful of the beliefs of those cared for, and were empirically based. We did cover public health and humanitarian aid issues under the Taliban rule. In fact, we discussed a recent article he coauthored and published in the Lancet on urgent health and humanitarian needs of the Afghan population under the Taliban, and what spurred him and his colleagues to write it.

Dr. Haqmal has been through much adversity, and nevertheless has chosen to live his life in full by helping others, often at great risk to himself, and the result is to have made a true difference in the world.

Dr. Chris Stout Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Chris Stout is a licensed clinical psychologist and international humanitarian with a diverse background in various domains. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Global Initiatives (a Top-Rated Nonprofit) and is the Executive Producer and Host of the popular “Living a Life in Full” a top-ranked podcast with an audience of over 3 million. He was a Fellow in the School of Public Health and Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago and prior to that he held an academic appointment at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He served as a NGO Special Representative and had the honor of speaking at the United Nations; he holds the distinction of being one of only 100 world-wide leaders appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow and was an Invited Faculty at the Annual Meeting in Davos.