Brothers deploy COVID-19 screening tool for refugee populations
Soon after starting the spring semester, brothers Hassaan and Senan Ebrahim recall having frequent conversations about COVID-19 in their respective classes. “At the Kennedy School, we started having discussions along the lines of, ‘Let’s consider the impact of a policy given COVID-19,’” said Hassaan Ebrahim, a Master’s in Public Policy candidate. “For Senan, who’s in his third year at Harvard Medical School, COVID-19 was of course a growing topic of concern. “We soon began talking about how refugees are going to be one of the hardest hit populations,” said Hassaan. “In Syrian refugee camps, it’s incredibly high-density living with limited opportunities for hygiene — there’s no running water or hand sanitizer.” Looking for ways to improve the lives of refugees is something that the Ebrahims have long focused on. Brothers Hassaan and Senan Ebrahim are the co-founders of Hikma Health, a nonprofit that builds software for organizations providing health care to refugee populations. “Our family...