BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Multiple burdens of malnutrition among Maya families in Yucatan an
 d how language (Spanish vs Mayan) impact health outcomes - Dr Inês Varela
 -Silva (University of Loughborough)\, with Hugo Azcorra\, Maria Teresa Cas
 tillo-Burguete\, Sabine Little
DTSTART:20201104T163000Z
DTEND:20201104T173000Z
UID:TALK153583@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Keaghan Yaxley
DESCRIPTION:The Maya are the largest indigenous group in Yucatan (Mexico) 
 lagging behind in many sociodemographic and health-related indicators. The
 y suffer from dual burden of malnutrition\, more specifically\, undernutri
 tion (stunting and anaemia) associated with overweight/obesity (OW/OB). Th
 is outcome has been reported at individual and family levels. The Maya lif
 e trajectories are different to non-indigenous groups due to systemic trau
 ma\, poverty and unequal access to healthcare and education. Over 20% of Y
 ucatec children are stunted or with short-height-for-age\, 20% have iron-d
 eficiency anaemia\, and 50% are OW/OB. Over 40% of adults are OW/OB. About
  30% of the population speaks Yucatec-Mayan\, and 62% self-identify as ind
 igenous. Language\, in the Maya case\, is a synonym of ethnic identity but
  also a reliable proxy of negative health outcomes. Language is not routin
 ely included in most Human Biology-based projects but\, in this talk\, we 
 make a case for it. We have identified challenges and experiences in bilin
 gual context\, associated with health messages and outcomes. Members of th
 e Maya communities see bilingualism as an important tool to navigate the h
 ealth system\, which is run by health carers who do not speak/understand M
 ayan. Health carers tend to misperceive teachers’ languages competences 
 by assuming teachers in the schools speak/understand Mayan when in reality
  almost none of them do. Over 90% of parents wished that health carers and
  teachers understood Mayan because they realise several lines of health an
 d educational communication are lost in the process. Including language as
  a predictor of health outcomes seems to be the next step in our research 
 process\, which takes a participatory-action research approach and relies 
 on an interdisciplinary group to draw expertise from different areas of kn
 owledge. 
LOCATION:Live on Zoom\, pre-registration essential here: bit.ly/349mHZG
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR