258459 Building Capacity of Faith and Public Health Leaders: Aligning Perspectives to Eliminate Health Inequities

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Manjusha Saxena, MPH , MidAmerica Center for Public Health Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Devangna Kapadia, MS MPH , MidAmerica Center for Public Health Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Elena Grossman, MPH , Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, UIC School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
Sophie Naji, BS , MidAmerica Center for Public Health Practice, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
Kirsten Peachey, MSW, MDiv, DMin , The Center for Faith and Community Health Transformation, Advocate Health Care, Park Ridge, IL
Shirley Fleming, RN, CNM, MSN, MDiv, DrPH , Center for Faith and Community Health Transformation, Park Ridge, IL
Inequities in health status are rooted in complex and difficult social problems such as poverty, racism, unemployment, and poor educational opportunities. Public health and faith communities have overlapping goals in addressing health disparities created by these inequities. Much of the activity in faith and public health partnerships focuses on individual programs such as mass vaccinations, screening and health education. By strengthening sustainable relationships between two non-traditional partners we can achieve greater impact in addressing health disparities. Drawing on the principles and learnings from the MidAmerica Regional Public Health Leadership Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health and the Institute for Public Health and Faith Collaborations at the Interfaith Health Program at Emory University, The MidAmerica Public Health Training Center and The Center for Faith and Community Health Transformation developed the Faith and Public Health Leadership Institute. This training series explores the theme from the lens of the faith community and the lens of public health, and then brings the two lenses into focus in “shared seeing.” The main objective of the Institute is to spark imagination for faith and health collaborations that go beyond programs to more organic initiatives. Practitioners will gain a deeper knowledge and practice of faith, public health, and the two fields in conversation with each other. Lessons learned that will be discussed focus on topics such as recruitment, curriculum development, and evaluation.

Learning Areas:
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Other professions or practice related to public health
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
• Describe the Faith and Public Health Leadership Institute curriculum and its application to address health inequities. • Discuss how this Institute builds capacity and fosters cohesion among faith and public health workforce. • Identify the importance of strengthening the relationship between faith and public health communities. • Describe how the lessons learned from this Institute would be applicable to others.

Keywords: Faith Community, Public Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a program manager for the MidAmerica Public Health Training Center at University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, which is working closely with the Center for Faith and Community Health Transformation to develop the Faith and Health Leadership Institute. I have nine years of experience in developing public health training initiatives.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.