Fall Semesters Westmont's Global Health Uganda

Students will grow in their understanding of public health and interventional health by learning from and observing Ugandan professionals working in various health-related fields. Each student will have the option to focus in geriatric, pediatric, maternal/child, pharmaceutical, herbal medicine, or community health education internships. As students engage in their internships and are mentored by Ugandan and American faculty, they will gain valuable insight into the expanding  field of global health and grow in cross-cultural awareness, developing competencies that will help them work effectively with diverse populations around the world.

This program is a partnership program between Westmont College and the Uganda Studies Program. Global Health Semester, embedded in the local Ugandan context, allows students an opportunity to regularly participate and become part of the Ugandan community through attending worship and prayer services, volunteering in the local community organization, participating in a community-based health internship, and living with a Ugandan family or collegiate peers at Uganda Christian University in Mukono, 15 miles outside of Kampala.

The program welcomes applicants who will have sophomore-level standing the semester of the program, juniors and seniors. Please note that priority in the selection process will not be determined by class standing.

• GPA (minimum 2.3 gpa for eligibility)
• Application and essays
• Personal and faculty recommendations

Criteria

• Participate in regular communal meals based on a local diet and with limited control over food choices.
• Tolerate local diet with limited control over food choices in most locations.
• Navigate multiple irregular surfaces and walk/travel up to 10 miles in a day independently.
• Anticipate having sufficient emotional wellness to fully participate in the program safely and successfully despite the limited availability of frequent access to psychological services.
• Anticipate at least double occupancy accommodations on some if not all locations.
• Anticipate staying with a homestay family for at least 7-10 days of the semester.
• Covid-19 vaccinations are recommended. Hep A, Yellow Fever, and a malaria prophylactic are required. 

Intro to Global Health in Uganda (2 credits)

This pre-semester course will focus on providing you with an overview of the most important health challenges facing the world today, with particular attention to sub-Saharan Africa. You will gain insight into how these challenges have changed over time. You will also spend significant time exploring your own cultural values and perspectives and how they inform your faith, scholarly work, and calling in the world.

Faith & Action in Ugandan Context (4 credits, required)

Faith & Action in the Ugandan Context combines a traditional classroom component (e.g., readings, discussion, small group processing, lecture) with a broad spectrum of experiential learning (e.g., living and studying with Ugandan students, home stays with Ugandan families, travel to various regions of Uganda & Rwanda, exposure to both missionaries and Ugandans involved in various social services). The course begins at orientation and continues through the final debrief retreat. Evaluation methods may include written assignments, verbal presentations, class participation, informal and formal debrief sessions, creative projects, journal entries, and one-on-one discussions. Topics covered in Faith & Action reflect the students’ experience in Uganda, and throughout the semester students are encouraged to integrate the academic material with their experience of life in Uganda. After beginning with understanding and learning from cross-cultural experiences, we explore how exposure to traditional African beliefs challenges our own faith. We then look at issues related to the way Christians respond to poverty and suffering.  From this academic and experiential foundation we examine our own North American Christianity with particular emphasis on personal conviction and response. Satisfies GE Communicating Cross-Culturally requirement.

Global Health Internship/Practicum (2-4 credits, required)

Course provides students with the opportunity to enrich their understanding of culture as well as further develop and practice their own cultural competence through active service learning and participation and integration into a Ugandan community. Students will complete a minimum of 72 hours at an approved practicum site, interact with guest speakers, make site visits and travel in Uganda. (Cross-Cultural Internship/Practicum: 2-4 units of major credit in Kines or Bio.)

Infectious Disease and Epidemiology (4 credits, elective)

This course introduces the basic methods for infectious disease epidemiology and public health case studies of important disease syndromes effecting Uganda and East Africa. Methods include epidemiology definitions and nomenclature, basic disease pathology, symptom presentation, laboratory findings, and the physiology behind basic treatment for the diseases causing most significant morbidity and mortality in East Africa. This course focuses on epidemiology with the combined learning outcomes of pathophysiology and public health for infectious diseases at individual, community and systems levels. This course must be taken concurrently with Cross-Cultural Practicum in Global Health where students gain applied field knowledge in 150 hour global health practicums with international clinicians and public health educators. This course includes case studies of: viral infections (Dengue fever, HIV/AIDS, WNV, Zika, etc), bacterial infections (Tuberculosis, Typhoid, and Diarrheal infections), and parasitic infections (Schistosomiasis, Trypanosomiasis, and Helminths).

Microbiology (with lab in) Global Health Context (4 units)

This course covers general aspects of undergraduate microbiology with emphasis on endemic microorganisms and human interaction. Topics include introduction to microbiology, microbial taxonomy, methods of microbial identification, immunology and infection. This course includes microscopy, staining, and hospital based microbiology laboratory applications with over 60 laboratory hours at Mukono Church of Uganda Hospital. Counts for either Microbiology credit OR upper-division elective credit.

Nutrition (4 credits, elective)

Good nutrition is the foundation for a healthy body therefore this course unit will explore the basic concepts of human nutrition and food. Fundamental facts about food nutrients will be discussed with regard to their requirements, functions, effects of deficiency and excess. Key concepts of nutrition assessment and Nutrition throughout the lifecycle will be discussed with special attention on pregnancy, infancy, childhood, adolescence and aging stages of life. The overall aim of the course unit is to give the learner the introduction and overview into the area of Nutrition as an integral component of health. To determine if eligible for major or minor credit, please contact your academic advisor.

GE Options: African Core Courses

The following elective courses are offered by different UCU departments and may be available to GHU/USP students. Because each department sets its own schedule just a few weeks before each semester, USP cannot absolutely guarantee that the following courses will fit into your schedule. If your participation in the USP depends on having any of these classes guaranteed, please email USP directly.

• GE Reading Imaginative Literature: African Literature (3 units)
• GE Understanding Society: East African Politics since Independence (3 units)
• GE Modern Language:
  • Luganda I (3 units)
  • Luganda I & II (6 units-can fit in one semester)
  • Kiswahili I (3 units)  
  • Kiswahili I & II (6 units-can fit in one semester)
• GE Thinking Globally:
  • Religions in Contemporary Uganda (3 units)
  • Understanding World views (3 units)
• Understanding Ethics from a Christian Perspective (3 units) - Elective Credit
• Health & Wholeness (3 units) - Elective Credit

Re-entry & Global Health Capstone (1 credit)

On Westmont Campus Spring Semester following semester abroad. In this course, we will explore local responses to contemporary ecological and social issues in ways that take account of the integrated nature of local and global processes. Global concerns are important but so are our local ones. You will be asked to undertake a community-based research project that builds from your internship experience in Uganda and further expands your comparative perspective on health.

Westmont's tuition, health fee, tech fee, standard room and board,  plus round trip airfare. Students are allowed to apply their financial aid awards from the college—both need-based and merit-based awards—toward the program’s cost.

Students will visit the following locations over the course of the semester:

• Rural settings in Uganda: Since 80% of the population lives in rural settings in Uganda, you will visit healthcare initiatives implementing education, counseling, and clinical care alongside community healthcare workers, volunteers, and others mobilized for improved health and livelihoods in the countryside of Uganda.
• Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda: The largest state-owned hospital in Uganda, built in 1962, with around 1,500 beds.
• Rwanda: The program also exposes students to a week-long learning excursion to Rwanda and a rural homestay in the beautiful Kapchora and Sipi Falls region.
• Kabale, Uganda: Visits to multi-sector clinics, including Child-Family Health International Programs in Nutrition, Food Security, and Sustainable Agriculture.