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ANNOUNCING, FOR SUMMER 2014GLOBAL HEALTH STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM:  MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN MOROCCO:  WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND FAMILY IN ISLAM"Maternal and Infant Health in Morocco: Women’s Rights and Family in Islam" is a global health program offered by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students with an integrated linguistic, cultural, and public health experience in the Islamic African country of Morocco.The course is six credits (3 credits of Arabic, 3 credits of Women’s Studies/Global Studies/Religious Studies/History) and is open to non-UWM students.For more information about the course, and to see the student blog, photos, and more information, visit our website:www.maternalandinfanthealth.wordpress.comThe course introduces students to maternal and infant health issues in the third world and considers a range of social, religious, epidemiological, economic, technological, legal, and family issues that impact birth, pregnancy, motherhood, and the health of newborns and children in Morocco.  Students also gain a basic knowledge of Islamic religion, Moroccan traditional (Islamic) medicine, and medical anthropology.In the urban component (3 weeks), students will learn about the social determinants of health, the array of social factors that affect women’s reproductive health and infant and child health:--Tuberculosis and HIV morbidity, and national policies for their prevention in Morocco, from the National Institute of Hygiene.--Violence against women, marital rape, child abandonment, and unwed motherhood.--Feminist, Islamic, and international NGO’s that support women and children.--AIDS prevention and the work of the AIDS NGO “Association de Lutte Contre le SIDA,” which advocates for AIDS infected persons, studies AIDS prevalence, and trains prostitutes, MSM, and illegal sub-Saharan African immigrants as AIDS peer educators.--US health interventions in Morocco (Peace Corps, USAID).Students will live with home-stay families.Students will learn Moroccan colloquial Arabic at AMIDEAST–no previous Arabic knowledge necessary.In the rural component (1 week), students will have a hands-on fieldwork experience that focuses on community health, the challenges of providing maternal and infant health care outside the state support structure, and the environmental determinants of health. Students will:--Hike out to remote Berber villages that do not have water systems, and bivouac/camp--Interview midwives and local NGO leaders through a translator.--Study water sources, water usage, conduct water quality testing in homes and rivers, help local women gather water, study the relationship between water and girls’ schooling.--Learn about traditional birth practices and beliefs about nursing, women’s health, and childcare.--Consider nutrition, especially for infants, pregnant women, and nursing mothers.--Help to plan a Community Health Day, a popular health exercise for local people.--Lodge with the shaykh of the Hansali Sufi order in his home, and enjoy all meals with his family.To apply, visit the Center for International Education Website at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.http://uwmilwaukee.studioabroad.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=programs.ViewProgram&#38;Program_ID=10098The program leader, Dr. Ellen Amster, is associate professor  of Middle East History at UW-Milwaukee and has fifteen years of medical fieldwork experience in Morocco.  She is the author of “Medicine and the Saints: Science, Islam and the Colonial Encounter in Morocco, 1877-1956“, from University of Texas Press (2013).For more information about the course, and to see the student blog, photos, and more information, visit our website:www.maternalandinfanthealth.wordpress.com