Health, Environment, Livestock and People:
An International Learning Community

US-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
OBJECTIVE
PLAN
An introductory recruitment course will be developed to link students enrolled in public health, medicine and veterinary medicine curricula with upper division and advanced graduate students from the social, biological, agricultural and environmental sciences and to write project proposals for studies abroad that can be done as a summer elective in Brazil (US Students-6 credit hours) or as a fall semester in the USA (Brazil students-12 credit hours). Summer coursework, to be team-taught by faculty to 22 US and 22 Brazilian students in 2006-2008, will include the equivalent of 2 credit hours didactic and laboratory coverage of major issues on the global interactions of health, environment, livestock and people. Based on approved work plans, each student will then complete a mentored special project on a major international health and societal issue by US students during 6 weeks of independent study (4 credit hours) or during a fall semester by Brazilian students. Up to 8 additional students can be accommodated in the US and Brazil programs (total 30 each) if they can obtain non-FIPSE funding from other sources (eg. PAHO, FAO, University travel grants). Using geographic information systems and remote sensing methods, a computer based 'spatial database infrastructure' will be implemented to map and analyze the environmental risk of human and animal disease and the potential societal effects of health issues related to globalization, trade, food security and international development. Courses may be credited toward a Master of Public Health degree program by medical and veterinary students or can be taken for undergraduate or graduate school credit at LSU, Southern or UMN.
Globalization trends and regional conflict issues have led to emergence of new concerns relating to public health, animal health, trade issues and food security. The objective of the consortium is to establish an interdisciplinary 'learning community' course of study on 'Health, Environment, Livestock and People' through an educational exchange of students and faculty at universities in the USA and Brazil.
LONG-TERM
The long-term aim is to initiate a US-Brazil 'summer institute' to provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary study of the interactions of human and animal health and the environment by students enrolled in dual degree MD-MPH and DVM-MPH programs at medical schools, veterinary schools and schools of public health, and students in graduate and undergraduate programs at western hemisphere universities. A successful program will be expanded to include other universities in the US and Brazil.