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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Students at the UA College of Public Health in Tucson created a Dia de los Muertos altar outside of Drachman Hall in remembrance of those who have died crossing the US-Mexico border.
Working for Change The founders of the student-run Global Health Alliance at the UA College of Public Health drafted a position statement back in 2007 on the public health crisis associated with border deaths. The American Public Health Association adopted the Border Crossing Deaths statement on Nov. 9, 2010. The graduate students, now alumni, responsible for the achievement include: Selena Ortiz, Christy Trimmer, Anne Hill, Lori Navarrete, and Terry Marsh among others. Faculty across all three divisions of the college were involved in this issue and worked jointly with students, including Dr. Cecilia Rosales, faculty advisor to the GHA.Tucson, Ariz.—The Global Health Alliance (GHA), a student organization at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, continued the tradition of constructing an altar for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on November 1st, in remembrance of those who have lost their lives crossing the US-Mexico border.
Over the last 12 month period (between Oct. 1, 2009 and Sept. 30, 2010), 253 bodies have been recovered from the Arizona-Sonora border region—the second highest number on record. In the past decade, more than 2,100 people have perished.
“The altar is a powerful symbol and a way to raise awareness for this public health crisis happening in our own backyard,” said Elizabeth Ferris Costello,” co-chair of the GHA and a graduate student with a Global Family and Child Health concentration. “It also recognizes the one-year anniversary of the adoption of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Border Crossing Deaths statement.”
The APHA recognized the rise in migrant border-crossing deaths by adopting the resolution: Border Crossing Deaths: A Public Health Crisis Along the US–Mexico Border, on November 10, 2009.
The genesis of the resolution on border crossing deaths began with an initiative by the founding students of the GHA, who drafted a position statement back in 2007. The students took this on as a cause after a series of conferences on research at the UA related to deaths of migrants in the Arizona Sonora region.
“The policy statement has its origins in our college of public health,” said Cecilia Rosales, MD, MS, associate professor in the community, environment, and policy division. “Students learned quite a bit about taking a position, preparing the policy briefs, and advocating at the local, state and national level. This is the fruit of their labor after several arduous years of hard work and their perseverance through it all.”
The resolution includes a call to action for colleges of public health urging, “Schools, colleges and graduate programs in public health should promote research documenting this public health crisis, develop education activities, and support advocacy to increase knowledge and awareness of this public health crisis.”
“By adopting this statement, we feel that our college can set the national standard for advocacy, research and education surrounding this public health crisis,” said Melissa Henderson, graduate student in the health promotion sciences program and co-chair of the Public Health Student Alliance.
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