Students Sought for Health, Literacy Projects in Belize

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Working with children is one focus of the opportunities in Belize.

The College of Education and Health Professions is planning three new projects in Belize next summer as part of the University of Arkansas community development program in the Latin American country. Students interested in working in the areas of clinical health, literacy and community health are encouraged to view information on the university's Study Abroad website.

Students do not have to be majors in the College of Education and Health Professions to take part in these projects. Students will receive 6 hours of course credit, and the deadline to apply for the program is Feb. 1.

The Belize program, developed in conjunction with the international organization Peacework, is in its sixth year. Through the program, students from many disciplines have an opportunity to participate in service learning projects in the area around Dangriga, a city of about 10,000 on the Caribbean coast.

The clinical health group led by Karla Larson, assistant professor of nursing, will provide students pre-professional health clinical experiences that may include a combination of hospital and health-care clinic visits, observations and interviews. Students may also hear lectures from local health-care professionals and work on global health concepts application and projects, assessment and projects related to the health-care needs in the community.

The literacy group led by Chris Goering, assistant professor of secondary education, will provide exciting and engaging ways of helping children and adults develop reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. Participants can expect to work in a variety of school or school-like settings to help students develop and improve literacy.

The public health initiative group led by Bart Hammig, associate professor of community health promotion, will undertake projects designed to strengthen students' ability to understand and interpret the determinants of human health, as well as aspects of chronic and infectious disease prevention. Students broaden and deepen their skills in critical and comparative thinking through participation in community-based needs assessment, while gaining practical skills in targeted program planning and implementation and field-based research methods and analysis. Potential projects, consistent with World Health Organization and Millennium Development goals, include environmental health and sanitation, prenatal and infant health, sexual health, HIV/AIDS education, women's empowerment, and hand-washing education.

University of Arkansas faculty project leaders will co-teach on campus for one week in the spring and prepare student teams to implement service learning projects during the summer. Proposed travel dates are May 19 through June 9. The cost is $3,900 plus off-campus tuition and personal expenses. Financial aid and are scholarships are available. More details are available at the Study Abroad website.