The School of Nursing and Health Studies (SONHS) celebrated National Public Health Week from April 3 to 9 with an Instagram takeover, tabling events, and an interview with internationally recognized health economist Dr. Felicia Knaul, director of the University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and a Miller School of Medicine professor.
“I am incredibly excited to kick off the American Public Health Association's National Public Health Week 2023,” announced Dr. Arsham Alamian, associate dean for Health Studies at SONHS, in his message to students, faculty, and staff. “We hope this week serves as a catalyst for important and innovative conversations relating to public health and culture that inspire you across both your academic and professional experiences.”
This year’s National Public Health Week theme, Centering and Celebrating Cultures in Health, means “learning from the communities we were born in and those that we help build with the goals of improving the health of each community member and ensuring equity, inclusion, and diversity are at the forefront of our public health agenda,” said Dr. Alamian.
Each day of the week would focus on a different aspect of public health, he added, with the SONHS Instagram account (@umiaminursing) offering a platform for faculty and researchers to highlight those daily themes: Community, Violence Prevention, Reproductive & Sexual Health, Mental Health, Rural Health, Accessibility, and Food & Nutrition. In addition, he introduced a 20-minute dialogue between Dr. Knaul and student Megan Piller, a senior in the dual degree programs of microbiology and immunology as well as public health.
In the video, Piller, a student assistant at SONHS on track to continue her public health studies at Yale University, interviewed Dr. Knaul about community, culture, and health. “Let me say on behalf of the Institute for the Advanced Study of the Americas, and really the whole university and all of us who work in global health, how incredibly pleased and proud and touched and inspired we are that the students have come together around this particular week, that you’re pushing public health throughout our university,” began Dr. Knaul, who chairs the Lancet Commissions on Gender-based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People as well as Cancer and Health Systems. “You are generating a culture of public health and a culture of global health at our University and within all of the schools, like the School of Nursing and Health Studies, that are behind this….”
Discussing how culture and public health intersect, she emphasized that “… all people of all ages, from all backgrounds, and whatever their religions, ethnicity, culture, and color are can be part of thinking of their own health and the health of our communities.”
Underscoring Dr. Knaul’s words, Piller said, “Everyone and every community member has a voice. We just need to kind of step back and hand them the microphone. Oftentimes it’s community members themselves across the world who have the best knowledge and understanding of what their health needs are and where we should be directing these [public health] interventions….”
Dr. Knaul expressed optimism that the week’s activities would inspire ongoing engagement. “You have tabling, dialogues, social media and virtual activities, and important in-person activities,” she said. “The fact that we have virtual spaces means that it can continue beyond this week. I’m sure it will continue to be a yearly activity….”
WATCH THE VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/815344782/4b22b69af3.
