MSU Extension educator wins award for global project
Infant care program builds upon ‘love of public health’
Since taking on the role of food safety educator at Michigan State University (MSU) Extension in Ghaida Batarseh Havern has been devoted to helping young mothers and infants in Macomb County.
Remember the nationwide infant formula shortage?
She was on the front lines. Not only did she work with parents to find sources for formula but joined her co-worker in creating Safe
Food = Healthy Babies to add a digital library with even more evidence-based resources for infant care.
It remains a resource for parents.
Now, only two years after launching her career and becoming a maternal, infant and early childhood health educator, Havern has been named a 2024 Global Scholar by the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), enabling her to develop an innovative project that could not only help Michiganders, but hundreds, even thousands of women and children overseas.
“My boss sent me an email about it,” Havern said, recalling the note sent by Cheryl Eschbach, who is the director of MSU Extension’s Health and Nutrition Institute.
It was not imperative that she respond but rather an FYI about a funding opportunity. After reading what they were looking for Havern outlined a plan to develop educational resources for refugees in the Middle East that could be taught through in-person outreach or online in
Arabic and English,
Arabic being a language that she learned from her Jordanian parents. Among the topics covered would be breastfeeding.
“Breastfeeding can be challenging in the best of circumstances,” Havern said. “People living in refugee camps abroad face unique challenges such as clean water access, misinformation (like formula is better than breast milk), the trauma of war and losing their homes.”
Other topics in the program might include:
• The importance of food safety for infants
• General food safety best practices
• Preparing homemade baby food safely
• How to properly handle and store baby formula
Havern said most developing countries that support public health agencies teach these skills but that’s not the case in developing countries, as she learned through her work with local immigrants and refugees.
Havern recalls one Hispanic woman who had no idea what to feed her baby once she stopped breastfeeding.
“She was giving the baby grape juice and didn’t know why she had rashes all over her body,” said Havern.
The young mother came to America alone and had no family support or resources to teach her how to introduce solids until Havern started working with her. Now both mother and child are thriving, which is what she hopes to accomplish among the refugees of Egypt with her Global Scholars project. Egypt was chosen because of MSU’s connections in the country and because she’s familiar with the language.
After graduating from Stevenson High School in 2013, Havern went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in health science/nutrition from Oakland University and her master’s degree in nutrition from Wayne State University.
As an award recipient she will receive $10,000 to develop her program.
“I’m not going to change the world with that but it will give me an opportunity to make little changes that will impact these women and possibly lead to partnerships on a global scale,” Havern said.