Presenter: Apoorva Ajith, Behavioral and Community Health & Environmental Science and Policy, Global Public Health Scholars
I took the Global Classrooms course, FMSC265: Teaching Menstrual Health: Dispelling Myths and Misconceptions with Dr. Elisabeth Maring from UMD and Dr. Madhu Kushwaha from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, India. This hybrid-format course partnered UMD public health students and BHU education students in a class together to meet online and work together. We learned about and discussed topics in menstrual health related to law, stigma, education, and culture. Towards the end of the semester, we developed educational deliverables on different topics in menstrual health. My team and I created a video on menstruation and menstrual services for mobility impaired persons. This experience has been a firsthand example of cross-cultural collaboration on a global issue. Though the class focuses on happenings in India and America, we have discussed menstruation in a worldwide context and its relationship to the Sustainable Development Goals. As an Indian American, I already had some cultural context on the information we were discussing, but it has been a much different experience to think about it in a more formal academic environment. In contrast to other research projects I’ve done, I learned more about creating deliverables and how research is used to shape initiatives, spread information, and apply public health concepts. The challenge of bridging language and technological differences was also quite difficult and has taught me about adapting communication in new situations.