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Tag: exploration seminar

Exploration Seminar: Health Services Delivery in Resource Poor Settings in Guatemala

Application Deadline: January 31, 2020 (Applications will be accepted until February 15 on a rolling basis)
Dates: June 22 – August 21, 2020 (in Guatemala July 31- August 15)

 

This intensive service-learning course, conducted in partnership with a community-based organization, Guatemala Village Health, is designed to expose students to the policy contexts in which health care is delivered in resource-poor settings with particular emphasis on Guatemala. The program will be centered in villages in the mountains above Lake Izabel (Marcajan, Chinavhabilchoch, Chinabengue, and Baltimore) and Rio Dulce, where GVH has cultivated strong partnerships since 2008. 

Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America. It is home to over 15 million people and more than half of the population is below the national poverty line. Guatemala faces several health and development challenges, including infant, child, and maternal mortality, malnutrition, literacy, and contraceptive awareness and use. It is also rich in cultural diversity. This program aims to expose students to global development, health systems, global health issues and health care delivery in resource-strapped communities. The course utilizes the community as the pedagogical platform and challenges students to view global health care issues holistically in order to understand how in-country health policies are influenced by local and global determinants.

For more information, click here.

Exploration Seminar: La Dolce Vita – Comparative Food Systems in Italy

Application Deadline: January 31, 2020
Dates: 6/25 – 7/23/2020

La Dolce Vita: Comparative Food Systems in Italy is a 4-week intensive program exploring sustainable food systems in Italy using systems thinking and a variety of perspectives to understand how factors, such as culture, policy, diet, and market structure, interact to create environmental, economic, health, and social/equity outcomes. The program begins with farmstays in Tuscany, including a coastal, organic farm. Here we will learn about sustainable agriculture and will taste and cook foods. Local speakers will discuss the role of Italian food culture, and contrast production methods and policies in the E.U. and the U.S. Next, students will move to the UW Rome Center to explore the intricate history and patchwork of political, social, cultural, economic, and health drivers that have shaped food systems in Italy, particularly around regional foods. We will survey a variety of retail outlets, will shop for food and prepare meals, setting the stage for a discussion on how dietary choices influence human and planetary health. In Rome, students will meet with civic food networks (e.g., Slow Food Movement), and international food agencies focused on sustainability and food security. Finally, we will travel to the Emilia-Romagna region to tour and reflect on three important Italian products (i.e., balsamic vinegar, parmigiano reggiano, and prosciutto) and to learn about Italy’s mature and growing cooperative economy. Throughout will be a discussion on how to evaluate the evidence to make responsible personal and political choices, and comparisons and reflections of food systems between the U.S. and Italy.

Learn more here.

Exploration Seminar: Health Impacts of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Applications Due: February 15, 2020
Dates: 8/23-9/13, 2020

The 9.1 magnitude 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful recorded in the world. The subsequent tsunami resulted in over 15,000 deaths and 6,000 injuries. Today, over 2,500 people are still missing, and 5,000 are still living in temporary housing. Guided by faculty with public health, nursing and disaster science experience, this exploration seminar will provide students with an understanding of individual, family and community health impacts of disasters, as well as disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. Through our strong partnership with Tohoku University’s renowned International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Students will gain a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from disaster scientists and community leaders that designed and implemented response and recovery strategies.

We will begin in Tokyo, where students will learn about Japanese culture, gain an understanding of the Japanese health system, and earthquakes. We will then travel to Sendai, Tohoku prefecture, which is the area most impacted by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. We will participate in lectures and activities to learn about disaster impacts. To appreciate differing approaches to recovery, we will visit Minami-Sanriku, a rural community heavily impacted by the disaster, and engage in experiential learning activities. We will then travel to Tono, Japan, known for its Japanese folklore, to enhance understanding of Japanese culture. We will return to Sendai where students will deliver a group presentation that synthesizes lessons learned, individual reflections and course readings.

Learn more here.