UCLA Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America

The UCLA Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America analyzes the key factors that influence poverty and the social determinants of health.

The mission of the UCLA Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America is achieved through programs and activities addressing three goals related to research, policy, and training.

Goal 1: Research
To assess and inform responses to the social determinants contributing to health inequities among Latin American populations.

Using the latest technology and research methodology, faculty and student researchers of the UCLA Blum Center will engage in qualitative research, quantitative research, secondary data analysis, and basic research to acquire new knowledge and gain insights related to attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, living conditions, migration, socioeconomic status, policies and more that affect health of Latin American populations.

Goal 2: Policy
To examine policies on poverty and health in Latin America and identify effective policy strategies within the region in order to make educated recommendations on policy enhancements.

Through collaboration with the UCLA School of Public Health's multi-national data center, UCLA Blum Center researchers will have access to the WoRLD policy initiative, a collection of policies affecting human health, development, well-being and equity from around the world. Currently the data center includes data from the Poverty Reduction Policy Database, the Equity in Constitution Database, the Education Policy Database, the Child Labor Database, and the Work, Family and Equity Index. UCLA Blum Center researchers will expand this dataset and provide mechanisms for sophisticated data analyses and algorithms to identify areas of need on which to build innovations.

Goal 3: Training
To educate students and train new researchers about the responses to social determinants of health in Latin America through courses, symposium, and field studies.

To achieve this goal, the UCLA Blum Center will sustain coursework for undergraduates, develop programs for graduate students, and conduct a postdoctoral multidisciplinary training program offering components such as:

interdisciplinary mentored research experience;
instruction in methodology, and theoretical knowledge and skills needed for innovative research in the social determinants of health; focused, mentored work with stakeholders in Latin America to develop an implementation plan for intervention development and/or dissemination.