BACI to Partner with Ball State University on Research and Delivery of Maternal and Child Health Service to Burmese Community

INDIANAPOLIS, June 7, 2020 — The Burmese American Community Institute (BACI) and Ball State University are pleased to announce a partnership implementing a text-based messaging service to support and empower Burmese women through its newly launched Maternal and Child Health Program.

A direct result of the action recommendation given by the BACI Summer Scholars in 2019, Ball State’s health science professors Mengxi Zhang, Jean Marie Place and BACI have been working in the development and implementation of this project, aimed at providing tailored health information with around 500 text messages translated to Burmese and Hakha Chin, supported by the grant from the Indiana Minority Health Coalition, with additional collaborative assistance from the Liv App/Webpage, Indiana State Department of Health and the WeCare text-messaging through Indiana University School of Medicine.

“It is wonderful to see our youth scholars’ work contributing to solving some of the most pressing issues in our local community such as this one. We very much hope this project will benefit many women in our community”, said Mr. Lian Sang, Programs Director at the BACI, who co-directs the program.

The project is expected to help increase the women’s knowledge about maternal and infant health through the women receiving an informative text message which will help them adopt recommended health behaviors such as safe sleep, breastfeeding, starting prenatal care early, and timely postpartum check-ups.

“Text-based messaging services are successful at engaging and educating pregnant and parenting women,” Dr. Zhang said. “Text-based messaging systems are especially productive among those with limited mobility and/or transportation barriers, as is the case with the Burmese community in Indianapolis.”

The project is not only innovative in its design—addressing the local needs, with a global perspective utilizing the Participatory Action Research (PAR) model—but it also ensures that the service delivery is culturally and linguistically appropriate, effectively addressing the unique needs of the community through unique collaborative partnership.

 “We are delighted to be partnering with Ball State professors, IMHC, ISDH and other collaborators like IU School of Medicine as we continue to put all the efforts toward helping newcomers becoming integrated and successful,” said Elaisa Vahnie, Executive Director of the BACI. “We hope to replicate this model nationally and internationally through the smart use of digital technology in this rapidly evolving digital landscape and increasingly interconnected world.”

This year, Jessica Euna Lee, PhD, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Dr. Megan S. McHenry, Indiana University School of Medicine, and Xiang Zhou, PhD, from Purdue University, will all join as research advisors as the Institute will, for the 9^th year, implement this highly successful program —the BACI Upward College Summer Scholars Program, designed to help solve some of the real world problems through scientific inquiry, data driven policy recommendation, with solution oriented approaches — producing knowledge, propelling innovations, and effecting sustained change for the common and the greater good.

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About BACI
The Burmese American Community Institute (BACI) is a non-profit organization founded in 2011 that provides educational and vocational support to the Burmese community in greater Indianapolis. The BACI also supports community members regionally, nationally, and globally through new initiatives, collaborative and strategic partnerships, and advocacy.

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