-: Hi everyone, and welcome to module three
in Public Health Advocacy.
I cannot believe we are already halfway through the course,
and I am loving every minute of being your instructor.
It has meant the world to me to be able
to connect with all of you and learn from you
through Yellowdig posts, emails and Teams meetings.
In addition to that, I wanted to take a moment
to give everyone a pat on the back.
Everything that's been turned in thus far
has been really well-written, considerate,
and well-thought-out.
I am learning so much as all of you come
from really interesting, diverse backgrounds
and have different interests in public health advocacy
and are really bringing a very new dimension to this course
I never thought would be possible.
This week we are all, we are talking all about
the backbone of advocacy work,
and that is gathering facts and data.
As we have discussed in previous modules,
once we have a problem defined,
we must support it with relevant data, facts, testimonies
as well as other tests, sources of research.
This week you have a chance to make your own information
on a public health topic of interest
in the form of an information fact file.
There's a lot of didactic information
on this found on Blackboard,
and as always, I am a reference to you
if you have any questions or concerns.
In addition to the required readings,
quizzes and assignments this week,
I wanted to give everyone a heads-up that in module four
we will be having a perspective-based, assigned Yellowdig,
which is also the basis for your assignment next week.
Really quickly, I have jot down everyone's name
and their randomly assigned point of view.
If for some reason anyone feels uncomfortable
with the position that they have been provided,
please feel free to send me an email this weekend
and I'm happy to rearrange or provide you
with a new perspective that you feel comfortable with.
Lastly, I wanted to go over our highlighted organization
for the module, and that is Land Rights Now.
Land Rights Now is an international campaign
to protect the lives of indigenous people
on indigenous lands throughout the entire world,
spanning from South America to North America
to different parts of Australia.
Their work is incredibly powerful and relevant to today.
When I was in the MPH program,
I actually came across the organization,
as I had a really big focus
on health equity initiatives for vulnerable populations
and landed a lot on indigenous health.
Their website is landrightsnow.org,
and you can find more information
about supporting their movement and campaign
and how to use your voice to support their voices
and their coalition to protect the lives of
over 2.5 billion people living on indigenous lands.