Building Bridges and Breaking Barriers: Addressing Challenges to Women’s Health at Home and Abroad

Health is a human right but many women face barriers to accessing safe reproductive and sexual health services for a variety of reasons. Jill Allison's work explores the kinds of social and political barriers to access to reproductive health services in Haiti, Nepal, Ireland and locally. In her presentation Jill will describe the support for prenatal and safe birth programs in rural Haiti, and the research focused on building community trust in local birth services in rural Nepal. She will also describe the work of students in the Faculty of Medicine, MUN, to build collaborative relationships with community services, break down barriers and provide a safe and non-judgmental service to all women living in the city of St. John’s.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER 

Jill Allison, PhD

Global Health Coordinator
Faculty of Medicine, MUN

Jill Allison holds a PhD in Anthropology from Memorial University.  Her work in medical anthropology is informed by a long career as a nurse working in many communities in Canada and abroad. She has worked, volunteered  or conducted research in Nepal, Haiti, Bangladesh, Mexico, Ireland and Canada. She currently works as the Global Health Coordinator in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University where she teaches and promotes the awareness of health equity challenges and the need for social justice and accountability. Her current research in Nepal explores ways to increase local community awareness, accountability and interest in promoting safer births in a rural remote region of the country. She takes medical students to Kathmandu every summer for the InSIGHT program – a program focused on the social determinants of health.

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