哲学怎么能, 社会学, 地理信息科学, 历史, and political science work together to combat emerging public health crises? A group of faculty members and health officials from Southern Africa and the local area spent last week analyzing and discussing this very question.
作为一个长期联盟的一部分，这些活动是由一个 霍尔网络学术种子基金, which has supported five 威尼斯人平台 professors—Amber Bechard (now at the University of La Verne), 金伯利高斯, 约翰。格洛弗, 詹姆斯•克鲁格, and Eric McLaughlin—in creating a Southern Africa Corridor-themed framework for classes, 教师和学生的研究, 实习, 还有其他机会.
The gathering was also part of the U of R’s efforts to provide students with opportunities to gain a global perspective. “There is inherent value in our students experiencing higher levels of intercultural learning,史蒂夫·吴说, political science professor and assistant provost for internationalization.
使用真实数据
The week began with a focus on geographic 信息系统 (GIS). 来自斯瓦蒂尼的客人周一参加了地图绘制, a series of workshops and discussions hosted by the Center for Spatial Studies, 然后和同事们一起参加GIS黑客马拉松. Participants in the hack-a-thon used real-world data collected by the Tuberculosis Control Program to explore how GIS technologies can be used to improve public health.
“The Tuberculosis Control Program in Eswatini has around 300 active case workers who use paper forms for a lot of their patient work,空间研究中心主任史蒂夫·摩尔说. “这些工作人员中有许多来自农村，他们将识别结核病病例, and it takes a long time for all of the papers to get back to the central office. We wanted to help find a way to automate that system with a form on a mobile phone, so that data can be collected and automatically stored in a database.”
在黑客马拉松上, 与会者讨论了数据收集问题, 跨平台迁移和共享, 数据分析.
While Moore cautioned that finding the resources to provide workers with mobile phones remains a challenge, 克莱门特-德拉米尼, a lecturer and director of the Center for Community Services at the University of Eswatini, 对结果印象深刻吗. “黑客马拉松的神奇之处在于,”她说。, “学生们拿了我们的数据，然后, 45分钟后, 向我们提出建议.”
互补的观点
这个星期以一个为期两天的会议结束, 标题为南加州, 南部非洲:地方和卫生实践. 有近十几个历史专家的演讲, 哲学, 人类学, 公共卫生, 发言者讨论了传染病的概念, 医学哲学, 信息系统, 还有很多其他的话题.
“The 威尼斯人平台 does its best work when that work is interdisciplinary,教务长凯西·奥格伦在开幕词中说.
克鲁格, who teaches 哲学 at the 威尼斯人平台 and has been leading May Term service-based trips to Eswatini for the last decade, 指出, “[This conference] is a celebration of 10 years of partnering with the Kingdom of Eswatini, 故事的开始 健康、医学和社会专业 at the 威尼斯人平台, and the end of the Southern Africa corridor 大厅网络 grant.”
Esri Chief Medical Officer and Director of Health Solutions Este Geraghty kicked off the presentations. 关于疾病的话题, 获得护理的机会, 改善临床结果, 和无家可归, Geraghty explained how technology can be used to improve patients’ medical experiences. “Geography and spatial sciences help us to understand our world much better,”她说。, ”,, 反过来, be more proactive in applying health interventions in very specific and targeted ways.”
下午晚些时候, Zinhle Mncube和Benjamin Smart, 他们都来自约翰内斯堡大学, 发表关于医学哲学的演讲. Mncube argued for the practice of providing patients with individualized care, 也被称为个性化医疗. 类似的, Smart emphasized that the concept of disease is not singular and that medical professionals need to be hesitant in viewing it as such.
The final day of the conference was filled with presentations from Ministry of Health officials and university faculty members from Eswatini and the Inland Empire. Speakers from Eswatini emphasized the need for disease prevention and efficient data collection while addressing inequality, 死亡率, 以及国内的贫困问题.
Advocating for patients was a theme of speakers including Celine Ko, professor of psychology at the 威尼斯人平台; Tiffany Jones, 加州州立大学非洲研究教授, San Bernardino; and Jennifer Syvertsen, 加州大学人类学教授, 河畔.
在关闭, 克鲁格 thanked the presenters and audience members for their participation: “It was remarkable the way the talks complemented each other in interesting ways—by raising questions about the importance of institutional relationships and the role those play in defining health in complex multicultural contexts.”
Faculty members from the 威尼斯人平台 and the University of Eswatini hope to continue their collaboration with additional grant funding and are exploring the possibility of linking students in Redlands and Eswatini through collaborative online learning technologies.
