ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2020
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In the three months the application was open in 2020, 15,159 young leaders applied to join the Class of 2020 on 1,458 campuses across 135 nations. 80 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 1,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2020 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT AUDRI PRIYOM BHOWMICK, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2020.
Brandeis University | Massachusetts, United States | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 1
" I am excited to be Millennium Fellow because of all the amazing people I will be working with. The fellowship, to me, is beyond just a platform. It is this engaging hub to connect with like-minded thinkers and change-makers who are all working together with the same goal—to make the world a better place. I derive an adrenaline rush from solving real-world problems and the fellowship is the perfect opportunity for me to work on my ideas and bring them to life. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: The Clean Needle Initiative
The Clean Needle Initiative is a first-of-its-kind project to rapidly contain the spread of needle-transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis-C by setting up needle exchange programs and by encouraging HIV/AIDS testing in high-transmission areas.
Two million lives are lost each year due to AIDS and Viral Hepatitis. The use of unsafe and unclean needles is one of the leading causes of the HIV and Viral Hepatitis transmission and one in seven AIDS victims are unaware of their infection due to lack of testing. While the UN and WHO have outlined plans to eradicate the diseases by 2030, early reduction targets are at risk of being missed. This project aims to break ground by establishing a needle exchange program in the town of Waltham, Massachusetts, where a community day center will provide injectable drug users with free sterile needles in exchange for their old, used needles. The establishment will also encourage regular blood testing and serve as a needle-transmitted-disease awareness center as well. The steps to completion of the project and the essential resource acquirement and management strategies will then be compiled and published on an e-platform. Revolutionarily, this platform will serve to invite and connect change-makers from all over the world to establish similar needle exchange programs in their respective towns.
About the Millennium Fellow
Audri Priyom Bhowmick is a rising sophomore at Brandeis University majoring in Computer Science and Economics. A self-proclaimed foodie with a never-ending curiosity for all things Tech, Audri likes meeting new people and traveling. A consistent team-performer, Audri debates at Brandeis's debate team and plays on the Brandeis Mens Rugby team. Before coming to Brandeis, he was fortunate to lead the first Water Resource Engineering team from Bangladesh to win an international bronze medal in the field. In his free time, Audri likes to meditate and practice Krav Maga, a very tactical military martial art !
