If you are in the London vicinity, you’ll have a wonderful (free) opportunity to hear from AAGE member Judi Aubel, known internationally as co-founder of an American and Senegalese NGO, Grandmother Project – Change through Culture (2005), a small action research organization with a team of highly committed Africans in Senegal. Aubel is a public health anthropologist/social scientist and has worked for more than 25 years in applied research and with community interventions in collaboration with NGOs primarily in Africa, but also in Latin America and Asia. She has conducted applied research and in community interventions is the role of senior women, or grandmothers, within family systems, particularly related to MCHN and RH.
Grandmothers and public health: unlocking the potential of older women in improving child, adolescent and maternal health
Date: Tuesday 14th May 2019
Time: 14.30-20.00
Venue: John Snow, LSHTM
Rebecca Sear and Anushé Hassan are organising an interdisciplinary workshop on May 14 at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, supported by the British Society for Population Studies and LSHTM’s MARCH and Global Mental Health Centres.
Research in demography and anthropology has demonstrated the importance of grandmothers in influencing child and maternal outcomes, such as improving child health and survival rates. Yet few public health initiatives have recognised the potential impact of recruiting grandmothers into their interventions to improve health. The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers in demography, anthropology, public health and related disciplines to discuss the potential for incorporating grandmothers into public health initiatives to improve child, adolescent and maternal health.
Details of the workshop and a link to registration can be found below
Speakers include Dixon Chibanda, who will talk about Friendship Benches, his initiative of bringing grandmothers into mental health interventions, a rare but very successful example of how older women can improve public health; Abbey Page, who will present detailed data from a low income context on grandmaternal care of young children; and Emily Emmott, who will discuss her research in high income contexts. This will be followed by a public keynote lecture by Judi Aubel, Executive Director of The Grandmother Project – Change through Culture, whose mission is to promote the health, well-being and rights of women and children in developing countries through grandmother-inclusive and intergenerational programs.
To conclude the workshop, there will be a panel discussion, providing an opportunity for speakers and audience to bring their work and experiences together in a discussion on the inclusion of grandmothers in public health initiatives.
Preliminary programme
14:30 Rebecca Sear & Anushé Hassan: “What do we know about the impact of grandmothers on health?”
14:45 Dixon Chibanda, LSHTM: “Grandmothers on the Friendship Bench: a source of wisdom”
15:30 Abbey Page, LSHTM: “Grandmothers and childcare in hunter-gatherer societies: the role of demography and mobility”
16:00 Emily Emmott, UCL: “Investigating the associations between grandmother support and parenting behaviours in the UK”
16:30 Coffee break
17:00 Judi Aubel, The Grandmother Project – Change through Culture
18:00 Panel discussion
18:45 Wine reception in the South Courtyard Café
Registration
You may register for the entire event or choose to attend only one part: either the afternoon talks followed by coffee or the key-note lecture, panel discussion and wine reception. Please book your place for the workshop here and indicate on the form whether you will attend one or both segments.
The workshop is a free event, open to all!
