Community: The Forgotten Discipline in Multidisciplinary Global Health

1. Community: The Forgotten Discipline in Multidisciplinary Global Health Isabella Alder, Annah Frisch, Morgan Gallegos, Rosalie Griffin, HarjitKaur, Kajsa Vlasic, Elysia Yuen, Rose Zagal, Dr. Stephen Alder Global Health Scholars, Honors College, University of Utah Peru • Community-engaged scholarship connects the branches of research, education and community engagement to create equal partnerships in order to work toward sustainable and beneficial outcomes. Objective “Last year, our group broke ground in community engagement and integration. The program became more community centered by Our purpose is to show that the community needs to be in concert with the other disciplines at the global health table. To successfully work toward a common goal, the community must become an equal collaborator. focusing on a single city, Trujillo. This will enhance the program's ability to integrate and assist with grass-roots, community focused healthcare. We also signed an agreement called the "Memorandum of Understanding" with la Universidad César Vallejocommitting to community engagement and scholarship.” – Rose Zagal Global Health Experience Through our experience in the classroom and abroad, we have witnessed the benefits of utilizing the community as a discipline in global health. Background • Effective global health practice requires a multidisciplinary approach. • Multidisciplinary:refers to the collaborative efforts of several usually separate branches of learning or fields of expertise. • Discipline: we define this to include types of knowledge, expertise, skills, people, challenges, inquiry, and research areas all stemming from individual background, experience, and perspective. • One of the past limitations of global health has been the failure to recognize that the community stands as its own discipline. Salt Lake City, Utah The Utah Refugee Services Office and the University of Utah’s Honors College Global Health Scholars have recently formed a unique partnership. This partnership will allow students and refugees within the community to work together in an effort to improve refugee resettlement. “The BassiPanthana Community Collaborative Development Project hasbeen focused on collaborating with the community since its launch in fall of 2010. India Discussion From my personal on -site experience, I found workingwith the members of the collaboration, including the community members, to be highly effective; this combination produced a unified team possessing a wide range of perspectives and skills.” -Isabella Alder From our experience working in Peru, Ghana, India and Salt Lake City we have found that the community is an essential component of successful global health work. Although the global health model continuously evolves with every project and every community, there needs to be a paradigm shift in the mentality of global health: the community needs to be an integral and equal partner. Ghana “In Ghana there has been tremendous success including the community as a discipline through the implemented global health research model. Acknowledgments • The Honors College, University of Utah • Division of Family and Preventive Medicine • University of Utah Study Abroad • The Refugee Services Office of Utah • Barekuma Community Collaborative Development Project • Universidad de Cesar Vallejo • BassiPanthana Community Collaborative Development Project The Barekuma Collaborative Community Development Project (BCCDP) has become a sustainable and long-lasting model of global health that allows various groups of people - from students and community members to professionals - to work together to better community health in this area of Ghana.” -Kajsa Vlasic