First published on October 7, 2019 in observance of the COPH’s 35^th anniversary celebration.

Advocacy is as important in public health as data analyses and needs’ assessments.

But students have traditionally lacked advocacy experience.

In 2018, Dr. Karen Liller, a USF College of Public Health (COPH) professor specializing in injury prevention and health education, decided to remedy that situation by starting the Activist Lab at the COPH.

The group, which is run with the help of two research assistants and a six-student advisory board made up of graduate and undergraduate students, provides interdisciplinary advocacy, education, research and service opportunities for students to develop the skills that will promote their success as effective public health advocates and leaders.

The Activist Lab, directed by Liller, is the second such lab in the country, with the first being at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

Liller says she had been wanting to start a program like the Activist Lab at the COPH for a while, to compliment the Doctoral Student Leadership Institute she began as dean of the USF Graduate School, now known as the Office of Graduate Studies.

“I strongly believed students needed much more preparation in leadership and advocacy skills before they graduated,” Liller commented.

In just one year of its existence, hundreds of students have taken part in the Activist Lab’s educational and service opportunities, which include activism boot camps, seminars, guest speakers, journal clubs, writing groups, research efforts and public health in a minute videos. These videos—only 60 seconds long—have featured faculty and community leaders discussing pertinent public health issues, everything from the importance of voting to refugee health.

According to Liller, some of the Activist Lab’s first-year highlights include:

• work with Dr. Mark Roberts and other University of Pittsburgh researchers on a measles simulator for Florida (called FRED Florida Measles Simulator), which shows how cases of the viral infection can grow in an area with just a 10 percent drop in immunizations
• a gun violence prevention and advocacy seminar, held in partnership with USF Health and led by Parkland shooting survivors David Hogg and Emma González

Things won’t slow down for the Activist Lab anytime soon. In addition to the continuation of seminars, speakers and learning opportunities, the organization has the following things planned for the future:

• a boot camp on the prevention of firearm violence, scheduled for January
• a new program called “More Opportunities to Use Learned Advocacy” (MOULA), where students work with particular agencies, such as Moms Demand Action and the Guardian ad Litem program, on advocacy issues
• the launch of a new podcast series called “Advocation—Change It Up!” The first podcast features Dr. Jill Roberts, a COPH alumna and assistant professor of global health, discussing the importance of immunizations.
• an oral presentation on activism, to be delivered at the 2019 American Public Health Association (APHA) meeting in November

The Activist Lab serves as an exciting hub of learning and action for students to become directly involved in practicing leadership and advocacy skills, says Liller, who sees the lab’s numbers growing and its reach expanding beyond the college and university to the state, nation and world. 

“For example, with our podcast new persons will be reached and advocacy skills can be expanded and practiced,” remarked Liller. “Students can become part of our advisory board and really help shape the direction of the lab. They can participate in all of our events, and as we grow more and more opportunities will become available.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post Teaching advocacy via the Activist Lab appeared first on College of Public Health News.

August is National Immunization Month

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccine hesitancy―the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines―is now a top-10 international public health threat. Vaccinations, says WHO, prevent 2.3 million deaths a year, a number that could increase by 1.5 million if global vaccination rates increased.

Vaccine hesitancy is a major factor driving the recent uptick in measles cases around the U.S. and other parts of the world. WHO reports that measles, a disease the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared eliminated in 2000, has increased by 30 percent around the globe.

“Some countries are in the middle of a measles outbreak,” said Dr. Karen Liller, a USF College of Public Health professor and an injury prevention researcher.  “Spikes have occurred in Israel, Thailand and Tunisia, according to WHO. And as individuals fear getting the MMR vaccine for measles, there is concern, certainly, that other diseases will increase as well.”

In fact, late last year there was a chicken pox outbreak at a school in North Carolina that had a high percentage of unvaccinated students. However, it’s measles, with its strong infectious nature, that is particularly concerning, said Liller. The CDC reports that one person with the virus can infect 90 percent of the people around him or her who do not have immunity.

WHO pinpoints several reasons for vaccine hesitancy―including complacency, inconvenience in accessing vaccines and a lack of confidence that they will help prevent disease.

The latter is particularly distressing.

“Vaccines are great public health achievements,” said Liller, who also directs the Activist Lab, a COPH initiative that provides advocacy and leadership education to future public health leaders and the community. “Vaccination is truly one of the safest and most cost-effective ways to prevent disease. With regard to measles, the vaccine is very safe and its link to autism has been thoroughly debunked. It is important to remember that unvaccinated children, for example, not only put themselves at risk, but also the population at large. For us in public health, this is totally unacceptable.”

So what’s the solution?

Vaccine hesitancy is a complex problem, and solving it will take a multidisciplinary approach.

Calling it a “man-made and wholly unnecessary” problem, some public health researchers are advocating for:

• Media outlets to better scrutinize their information to stop the spread of inaccurate vaccine information.
• Health professionals to band together to correct misleading statements and channel accurate information to the media.
• Policymakers to enforce laws limiting exemptions for mandatory vaccinations.

According to Liller, the Activist Lab will continue to be a strong voice for vaccinations. In addition to providing information about the FRED Florida measles simulator, an online measles simulator developed in partnership with experts at the University of Pittsburgh that can show how fast cases can grow in an area when vaccination rates drop by just 10 percent, the Activist Lab plans to work on legislative and other strategies that will promote vaccine use.

“We [public health researchers] need to be a persistent voice for vaccines and not let our message get lost with the often-loud voices of the anti-vaccination movement,” remarked Liller. “Science must always guide us, and we need to work with communities so that vaccines are available for all.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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