![\"Salma](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2017\/02\/Peacebuilding-and-health-speakers-300x200-300x200.jpg\")
Murabit used the recent Ebola crisis as an illustration of the complex interplay of health, economics and global security.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 43 governments closed their border to the affected countries as a consequence of the Ebola epidemic, which has led to the decimation of their economies three years in a row,\u201d Murabit said, \u201cand we don\u2019t see it changing over the next six or seven years. That economic decimation has led to more violence internally, more aggression toward the government, less media accountability.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s time we started to talk about health as a necessity for global security.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abadin pointed to similar complexities on a local level, particularly in the context of the health concerns arising from \u201cfood deserts\u201d in some parts of Milwaukee and other communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Milwaukee community is saying that access to healthy foods is second only to violent crime as a concern,\u201d she said. And there\u2019s a connection: \u201cWe see kids joining gangs because that is a way to provide food for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maida stressed the need to have a more robust notion of community engagement in health policy, one that involves community members directly in the planning process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrganizations, often with the best intentions, reach out to communities looking for feedback: \u2018We\u2019re going to show you this plan that we have and we need your approval,\u2019\u201d she observed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not community engagement. We need the people from the streets on the boards of these organizations. We need to a find a way to develop leadership on the community level so that we can use the potential there.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Murabit, the global analog of grassroots participation was the need to recognize the value of solutions being developed around the world. She suggested American activists had much to learn from their counterparts abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraditionally, when American civil society activists get involved internationally, they don\u2019t join U.N. Development Program or UNICEF or the U.N. Population Fund,\u201d she said. \u201cThey work in the State Department and USAID. But those may not be the best vehicles anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cUtilize the multilateral system, take advantage of that system, because it exists for that purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event was sponsored by the Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding program, the UWM Institute of World Affairs, the Center for International Health, the College of Nursing and the Medical College of Wisconsin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When looking at the interplay of health, economic and security crises around the world, it isn\u2019t difficult to recognize themes that vex smaller communities much closer to home. That was the message of the three speakers at \u201cGlobal Health & Peacebuilding: Global Influences in our Local Communities,\u201d a wide-ranging discussion held at UWM on Feb. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":45459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,200],"tags":[249],"section":[],"display_categories":[],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-45458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-in-brief","tag-community-engagement"],"yoast_head":"\n