September 26, 2018
Initiative-funded project addressing health disparities in local agricultural communities
A team of University of Washington researchers in medicine, public health and social work are collaborating with agricultural workers in Whatcom and Skagit counties to assess and, ultimately, address health disparities related to occupational, environmental, socioeconomic and biological stressors faced by that region’s rural, underserved agricultural communities.
Through a partnership with a local promotorx (community health educator) program, the researchers evaluate the health and living conditions of farmworkers through surveys and in-depth home assessments.
This community-driven process, which is paired with environmental data collection, thus allows for the creation of community-driven solutions that increases the local capacity to improve health equity.
The project’s new video, “Nothing About Us Without Us,” explores this unusual academic-community partnership between that puts farmworkers at the center of the conversation about how to improve their health and well-being.
This project is one of several that was funded during winter quarter 2018 as part of the Population Health Initiative’s call for pilot research grant applications.