This course will be completed in 13 weeks, with four weeks in India and the remaining weeks conducted online.

The capstone project will be an opportunity for you to demonstrate the knowledge gained from the first part of the course and relate to your field of study. You may choose your own project with approval from the instructor. During the final week of the course, you will present your project to the class in a maximum of 12 slides. The presentation should last approximately 8 minutes, followed by a question and answer exchange with attendees. The class will collectively grade each presentation.

Students participating in this program will earn 6 units of credit:

• 3 units: HPS 493C (undergraduate level) or HPS 593C (graduate level) - Global Health Experience in Public Health
• 3 units: HPS 492 - Directed research.

W.A. Franke Honors Students have an option of enrolling in an Honors section of the courses offered. The courses offered in this study abroad experience fulfill minor electives for students enrolled in the Health and Human Values minor.

For additional questions, please contact:

Dr. Karl Krupp
Assistant Professor
Division of Public Health Practice & Translational Research
Phoenix Campus Department
kkrupp@arizona.edu

or

Dr. Purnima Madhivanan
Associate Professor
Health Promotion Sciences Department
pmadhivanan@arizona.edu

Mysore, Karnataka, India

From a travel perspective Mysore is South India’s most famous tourist destination. Its World Heritage–listed Mysore Palace may be what draws most travelers there, but it’s also a thriving center for the production of internationally distributed premium silk, sandalwood and incense. However, it is Ashtanga yoga that this city is most famous for; it has a worldwide reputation as one of India’s best places to practice yoga. Mysore yoga is named after this city which has a continuous, large population of Western tourist visiting for yoga retreats and training. Mysore is noted for its heritage structures and palaces, including the Mysore Palace, and for the festivities that take place during the Dasara festival when the city receives hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world. Also, Mysore is located in the “Silicone Valley” of India; most technology companies in the region are located in this area. This state is known for its numerous universities, and highly educated population who primarily speak English. For these reasons, Mysore is an ideal location for UA students to visit.

Public Health Research Institute of India, Mysore

Prerana Women’s Health Initiative has been working to improve the health of women, men, transgenders and children in Mysore for more than a decade. First established in 2006, it went on to set up its headquarters in Yadavagiri in 2007, and became part of Public Health Research Institute of India (PHRII). Founded as a nonprofit Charitable Trust, PHRII is recognized as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organization by the Government of India. PHRII’s mission is to ensure that Indian women irrespective of class, religion, and socioeconomic status, receive comprehensive non-judgmental reproductive healthcare. Our vision is to improve women’s health through evidence-based care and to create an equitable society where all women have access to the benefits of good health.

PHRII promotes healthcare access, quality of life, and well-being, for low-income communities through research, training, advocacy, and care. Our services are provided in urban, peri-urban, rural and tribal areas of Mysore district.

The organization operates free mobile clinics in more than 140 rural villages, and central Mysore City. Thousands of women have benefited from low or no-cost antenatal, reproductive healthcare, and health screenings. In addition, PHRII has also provided free healthcare to marginalized members of society including transgenders, sex workers and hard-to-reach tribal/indigenous populations resettled from forests to rural Mysore District. Currently, PHRII has more than twenty staff, a free walk-in reproductive health clinic, and mobile medical care clinics. It operates a full time medical laboratory with biochemistry, microbiology and molecular services, an administrative core for grant support, and a community department that provides education and awareness outreach programs to support ongoing research and services.

PHRII has hosted over 170 students and 16 Fellows from around the world in efforts to train the next generation of healthcare providers and global health researchers. We seasonally host undergraduate and graduate interns. We have hosted students from the USA, UK, Belgium, India and other countries. Students are often funded by their universities or training grants like the NIH’s MHIRT or Global Health Program. PHRII also hosts Fulbright research fellows.

PHRII has partnered with various local organizations and international universities to host Global Health Study Abroad programs focusing on India’s healthcare system and public health research methods. PHRII has training collaborations with University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, University of California, San Francisco, Florida International University, University of Arizona, Hawaii University, Duke University, Brown University and Stanford University and formally mentored more than 65 international students from these universities. PHRII has been recognized as a research site at the National Institutes of Health, USA.

Students will be housed in a hotel (at least three stars) with standard facilities including a room with attached bath, restaurant, business center, gym, pool, and security. Transportation will be provided for the approximately ten-minute drive to and from the host institution each day.

Website for the host institution: www.phrii.com

A brief review of India’s traditional medical systems: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2816487/

Mysore Tourist attractions: https://www.icsi.edu/media/portals/39/Mysore%20Tourist%20Attractions.pdf

UA Study Abroad Scholarships

Gilman Scholarship (for Pell Grant recipients)