BLOOMINGTON - Four student groups at Illinois Wesleyan University helped raise awareness of global health equality Sunday night at IWU's Hansen Student Center and raised money in the process.

The Global Health Gala, organized by Titan Emergency Medical Services, Face AIDS, Lamu Center of Preventative Health and Global Medical Brigades, brought together 160 people to enjoy a Swahili dinner and learn about global health disparity and possible solutions.

"Poverty and sickness are like head and shoulders," Munib Said Abdulrehman, executive director of Lamu Center for Preventative Health, told the audience.

The Bloomington based-center is devoted to establishing a clinic on the Kenyan island of Lamu in order to provide screening of diseases and nutritional counseling.

Abdulrehman, a doctoral student at Illinois State University and nurse practitioner from Lamu, presented arguments that the United States must do a better job in proming global health.

He said many people believe it is in the best interest of the nation's security to maintain health levels around the world. But there is also a humanitarian argument, he said, that, "disparities in the world are immoral and therefore intolerable."

Sneh Rajbhandari, a senior from Nepal who is majoring in political science and serving as an intern with the Lamu Center of Preventative Health, noted her native country has high maternal and infant mortality rates. It is one of the few countries in the world with a shorter life expectancy for women than for men, she said.

"I'm really excited about this project," she said.

"Freshmen students took up this initiative," she said. "It makes it more certain that this project will continue."

Michael Henry, chapter coordinator of Face AIDS and master of ceremonies for the event, said the fundraiser was a way to bring the different groups together for a common good.

"We decided our goal is global health equality and in order to achieve that goal, we need to help other groups succeed," said Henry.

Henry, a biology major from Teutopolis, said the event raised more than $3,000. Funds will go to the four groups that organized the event.

Bolo Conde, a master drummer with the Center for World Music at the University of Illinois, performed for the audience with 12 other drummers from U of I and IWU. During the drum performance, several dancers performed a traditional West African dance that involved pronounced arm gestures.