Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

EWU partners with Colombian university to study rural health care after decades of guerrilla war

A team of Eastern Washington University students will travel to Colombia next summer to study rural health care in the wake of a decadeslong civil war between the Colombian government and insurgent rebels.

EWU is one of five U.S. schools to receive a grant this year from 100,000 Strong in the Americas, an organization that promotes study-abroad opportunities across the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. The organization is a partnership among the U.S. State Department, a nonprofit called Partners of the Americas and the Association of International Educators.

The $45,000 grant will enable EWU to work with Juan N. Corpas University in Bogotá, which will send six nursing and medical students to Cheney to study English and health care strategies, said EWU professor Mary Ann Keogh Hoss, who will lead the research. Another four Colombian students will participate in an online course, along with five master’s students from EWU’s College of Health Science and Public Health.

And next May, all 15 students will visit war-torn towns in rural Colombia to assess residents’ health needs and create policy proposals. The nation’s government recently reached a peace agreement with the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army (FARC) rebel group after more than half a century of bloody guerrilla war; parts of the health care system must be rebuilt.

Keogh Hoss said the students’ trip will last about 10 days and they will conduct meaningful field research.

“One of the things that’s really exciting for us is that our students will get to be with these Colombian students,” she said.