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  1. Home
  2. Research
  3. Global Health Work Group
  4. Stories
  5. Advancing Health Orientation Materials for Refugees in Minnesota

Stories

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  • Establishing the First National Sero-prevalence Estimates of Toxoplasmosis in Uganda
  • Increasing Awareness on Global Tobacco Reduction by Advocating for Strategic Global Partnerships and Tobacco Reduction Initiatives and Strategies
  • Overseeing students’ work with Community Health Workers in India and building health-related research capacity in Afghanistan
  • Using A Standardized Patient Approach to Study Stigma Against LGBT Community in Healthcare Settings in China
  • Understanding how health inequities and social injustices impact health outcomes both at the local and global health level
  • Rural Roots to Global Response and Preparedness Interventions
  • Developing Mathematical Models to Evaluate HIV Treatment Strategies in Mexico
  • Strengthening Access to Rural Health Care in Haiti through Program Evaluation
  • Conducting Treatment and Clinical Trials for Ebola and HIV
  • Eliminating and controlling malaria in Southern Africa
  • Diabetes Prevention in Jamaica by Addressing Food Access and Security
  • Advancing Health Orientation Materials for Refugees in Minnesota
  • Observing the Intersection of Traditional and Western Medicine in Rural India
  • Understanding How Local Efforts Impact Global Health
  • Enhancing Community Health for People Living With HIV in Southern Ethiopia
  • Analyzing Global Health Policy at the World Health Organization
  • Conducting Focus Groups for Maternal Health in Kampala, Uganda
  • Researching Infectious Diseases in Latin America with an Equity Lens
  • Developing Relationships in India to Understand Global Health Systems

Advancing Health Orientation Materials for Refugees in Minnesota

Shelby Panttaja, MPH ’19

Graduate student Shelby Panttaja (Maternal and Child Health MPH ’19) has dedicated her education to working with vulnerable and underrepresented populations, with a particular focus on refugee and immigrant communities’ health and their access to resources. The motivation to work directly in this space drove her to the Minnesota Department of Health’s Refugee Health Program.

This passion has aided her most recent project with the Minnesota Department of Health; a curated repository of health education and orientation materials targeted at newly arrived refugees.

Shelby has been collaborating with other state and national organizations to locate, vet, and create culturally sensitive materials, that will address the current gaps in refugee health orientation and education.

As a part of this project, she is developing new food safety efforts for the state of Minnesota in direct collaboration with the Center for Disease Control and MDH’s own Foodborne Illness Unit.

Shelby says, “This project will equip newly arrived refugees with the information and resources they need to create and maintain a healthy life… it’s important to have targeted health orientation materials, as refugees are often overwhelmed with all of the information provided to them during the initial days of arrival. By creating this repository, resettlement agencies and departments of health across the country can better care for those they serve.”

In addition to providing this resource, she says that the hope is to translate these curated materials into a mobile application for smartphones.

“This is a great opportunity to make health materials mobile and easily accessible… Most individuals rely on smartphones for information, directions, and social connections every day, and refugees are no exception. If we want to make sure this information is being used, we have to make the information easy to access.”

When not contributing to MDH’s health efforts, Shelby is also heavily engaged in global health with her academics. Most recently, she participated in the India: Global Health, Globalization, and Leadership course in Mysore, India, as well as conducting her ApEx (formerly known as a field experience) in the Dominican Republic. She hopes to bring all of these experiences together as the new Graduate Assistant for the Global Health Work Group for Spring 2018.

Upon graduation in May, she hopes to continue working with vulnerable and underserved populations in the Twin Cities.

“I feel that we often talk about being global citizens, but I understand that this takes a concerted effort. For me, I want to work in the global health space as a way of contributing to a better world, and to help relieve the burden of poor health, through my public health training.”

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