UPT FACULTY RETURN FROM TANZANIA

(establish study-abroad service learning course)

This woman stayed with her child when the baby was hospitalized for malnutrition. The baby was one of 100 children in the hospital.  Most were hospitalized with malaria.	Mr. Croskey and Dr. Winkler model clothing which the Nyakahanga Hospital gave them as going away gifts.

TITUSVILLE, July 19 -- Dr. Linda Winkler, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Biology, and Mr. Joseph Croskey, Assistant Instructor of Computer Science, recently returned from northwestern Tanzania, where they began creating a study-abroad service learning course.  The course, “Community Health in Tanzania,” will be offered in June 2003 to University students.

While in Tanzania, Winkler and Croskey worked at Nyakahanga Hospital in the Karagwe region.  The hospital provides several programs, including malaria treatment and eradication, AIDS control, and community outreach clinics for nutrition, immunizations and family planning.  In addition, the hospital participates in a number of World Health Organization and UNICEF projects and runs a pre-nursing program.

According to Winkler and Croskey, the district of Karagwe is one of the poorest areas of Tanzania and far removed from the tourism centers.  “Despite archaic equipment – a 37-year-old X-ray machine – and a dearth of medicine, supplies and funds, the hospital provides in-patient treatment for a wide range of illnesses, including TB, AIDS related diseases, leprosy, and malaria,” says Winkler.  “In addition, the hospital delivers over 1000 babies a year, many of which are high risk.”

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