Health Education Initiative

Health Education Taskforce

American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP) has been involved in health education activities since its inception, but has decided to place a greater emphasis on such activities for the upcoming years and as such has recently established a Health Education Initiative. The focus of the initiative is to plan, execute, and evaluate an intervention program for American Islamic Centers to improve health education and outcomes amongst Muslim populations as well as use existing community health centers, specifically Muslim free clinics to target health prevention interventions to the most vulnerable populations. AMHP plans to work on a local level with Islamic centers, mosques, and other faith-based institutions, and community health centers with a focus on Muslim free clinics to present and provide relevant health education and materials regarding selected health topics.

The Health Education Initiative plans to address two main topics for the 2010-2011 year

• Healthy Lifestyles to promote health
  • Highlight the importance of eating healthy food and exercising by citing relevant Islamic texts and religious scholars (for Muslim populations)
  • Organize educational seminars for community members at Local Islamic Centers and community health clinics on a variety of health topics such as obesity
  • Create physical fitness classes and activities through the Islamic Center

• Breast Cancer Screenings
  • Increase mammograms for Muslim Women aged 50 and older
  • Decrease perceived barriers for Muslim Women, which include:
    • Modesty
    • Language Barriers
  • Create culturally appropriate material that promote breast cancer screenings in different languages

To get involved with the Health Education Initiative, please contact Rhonda Ragab at rragab@amhp.us.

Healthy Lifestyle Resources

Healthy Lifestyles in Ramadan