Summer Institute Files 2007
Description:
The Health Initiative of the Americas, a program of the School of Public Health of the University of California, Berkeley, in conjunction with the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, School of Medicine, organized the second “Summer Institute on Migration and Health” in Puebla, Mexico, from July 9 – 13, 2007.
The five-day course provided participants with multidisciplinary instruction using theoretical, methodological and practical tools, and offered participants a better understanding of the complex relationships between migration and health.
The presentations and workshops were taught by 22 well known professors—15 from Mexico and seven from the U.S.—who are considered experts on the topics. A total of 96 participants attended the course: 54 from the U.S. (the majority being graduate students from the University of California), 39 from Mexico, and one each from Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba, and Colombia.
The plenary sessions were also transmitted via videoconference to five locations in Mexico and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
The topics covered during the Institute were:
- General perspective of the Mexico-United States migration
- Migration and human rights
- Epidemiological studies on migrant populations
- Health promotion among migrant populations
- Infectious diseases and management of binational cases
- The importance of health among migrant populations
- Use of data on the formulation of public health policy
- Qualitative research in migration and health
- The practice of medicine in multicultural contexts
- Farmworkers: migration and health
- Formulation and evaluation of binational projects
- Migrants living with HIV/AIDS
- Nutrition, obesity, and other related diseases among migrant populations
- Migration at the southern Mexican border
- Mexican Migrant Health Program
The Summer Institute also included a one-day field trip to the municipality of Huejotzingo, which has a high level of emigration to the United States. There, the students had the opportunity to interact with the community, and see first-hand the benefits and problems related with migration. Cultural and social activities were also part of the week’s activities.
The next Summer Institute on Migration and Health is scheduled for June 30 – July 4, 2008.
Berkeley 