Tobacco Themed Scenario Selected for Global Health Case Competition
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 22, 2015) — Nine interdisciplinary student teams will develop strategies to address a critical global health challenge scenario during the Global Health Case Competition this Saturday, Jan. 24, in the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.
For this year’s scenario, each student team will serve as an advisory committee to the minister of health in the state of Gujarat, India. Each team will propose a tobacco control strategy that will reduce the health and socio-economic burdens of tobacco use and identify the costs and tradeoffs involved.
According to Samuel Matheny, assistant provost for global health, this scenario was selected not only because of its relevance to Kentucky, but because tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death worldwide.
The student teams will present their strategies to a panel of judges, each with 15 minutes to showcase a visual presentation, followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer portion with the judges.
One team will be chosen to advance to the 2015 International Emory Global Health Case Competition March 28 at Emory University. There they will face teams from 24 other universities, and the first-place team at the Emory competition will win $6,000.
This competition is hosted by the Global Health Initiative, which aims to advance research and educational programs for students to improve the health of people throughout the world.
To learn more about UK’s Global Health Case Competition, please visit http://www.uky.edu/international/Case
One of the Case Competition judges, Dr. C. William Keck, will also be giving a lecture about the success of Cuba’s health care system in spite of its economy. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled “The Curious Case of Cuba,” and will take place from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, in the Chandler Hospital, Pavilion A. Auditorium.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Geegan, (859) 257-5365; sarah.geegan@uky.edu