Health students travel south of the border
Teresa Hou
Issue date: 4/5/06 Section: News
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Fresh off their trip from Oaxaca, Mexico, a small group of students and faculty from San Jose State University's health science department described their trip to learn about public health in the area Tuesday afternoon with a group of students and friends.
Held in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Joint Library, "Collaboration with Oaxaca Public Health, Lessons Learned," was the first of eight events for the health science department's World Health Week.
According to Cheryl Hergert, a member of the Masters of Public Health Student Association, the whole culmination of World Health Week came about because Friday is World Health Day.
"World Health Day is celebrated internationally and World Health Organization designates that day and it's always April 7 every year," Hergert said. "With the collaboration of all the different countries, this year the main theme is 'Working together for health' and it's to celebrate the health worker globally and what they do. That would include nurses, doctors, pharmacists ... the whole healthcare system and so that's why every day we have something talking about a different aspect of health."
While on spring break, health science professor Debra David led a group of 16, ranging from Master of Public Health alumni to present students and undergraduates, to Mexico to spend a week in Oaxaca, said health science professor Kathleen Roe, who also went on the trip.
"Oaxaca is the second most southern state in Mexico," Roe said. "It is (one of the poorest) states in Mexico. The city of Oaxaca is a beautiful old colonial city that has about half a million people."
According to Roe, a ring of mountains in which more than 40 different groups with more than 50 different dialects live in the surrounding areas of the city of Oaxaca. These groups, however, are being forced down to the city because water is drying up and since the Coca-Cola company owns water rights, more people are drinking Coke than water.
"Coke pretty much owns the country of Mexico," Roe said. "People drink Coke because it's cheaper than milk. Babies drink coke in their bottles because it's cheaper than milk. Coke is cheaper than purified water."
Held in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Joint Library, "Collaboration with Oaxaca Public Health, Lessons Learned," was the first of eight events for the health science department's World Health Week.
According to Cheryl Hergert, a member of the Masters of Public Health Student Association, the whole culmination of World Health Week came about because Friday is World Health Day.
"World Health Day is celebrated internationally and World Health Organization designates that day and it's always April 7 every year," Hergert said. "With the collaboration of all the different countries, this year the main theme is 'Working together for health' and it's to celebrate the health worker globally and what they do. That would include nurses, doctors, pharmacists ... the whole healthcare system and so that's why every day we have something talking about a different aspect of health."
While on spring break, health science professor Debra David led a group of 16, ranging from Master of Public Health alumni to present students and undergraduates, to Mexico to spend a week in Oaxaca, said health science professor Kathleen Roe, who also went on the trip.
"Oaxaca is the second most southern state in Mexico," Roe said. "It is (one of the poorest) states in Mexico. The city of Oaxaca is a beautiful old colonial city that has about half a million people."
According to Roe, a ring of mountains in which more than 40 different groups with more than 50 different dialects live in the surrounding areas of the city of Oaxaca. These groups, however, are being forced down to the city because water is drying up and since the Coca-Cola company owns water rights, more people are drinking Coke than water.
"Coke pretty much owns the country of Mexico," Roe said. "People drink Coke because it's cheaper than milk. Babies drink coke in their bottles because it's cheaper than milk. Coke is cheaper than purified water."
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