South Carolina Tracking Partners with Benedict College for World Environmental Health Day Observance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Sept. 26, 2024

COLUMBIA, S.C. – In observation of World Environmental Health Day, the South Carolina Department of Public Health’s (DPH) South Carolina Tracking Program is partnering with Benedict College faculty and students to pilot a poster project highlighting the connection between public and environmental health.  

World Environmental Health Day (WEHD) is observed annually on Sept. 26 to educate communities and raise awareness of risks and issues in environmental health and encourage discussions on the steps people can take to protect the environment and ensure their safety. 

From Sept. 26 through Oct. 17, Benedict College Professor Henry Counts and his Public Health Special Topics class will participate in the first SC Tracking-sponsored poster project. Titled “SC Tracking Data Dash: Using Data with Purpose,” the project requires students to use SC Tracking’s Heat Related Illness Dashboard to gather and analyze data on South Carolina temperature extremes.  

Students will explore how these extremes impact health and potentially complicate chronic conditions. Additionally, the projects will address prevention strategies and safety measures to mitigate heat-related risks. Students will be tasked with making a poster to present their data and findings.  

“It's important for Public Health students to have access to good reliable data and that it offers them the opportunity to impact changes on a global, national and local level,” Counts said. 

The Benedict College poster project winner will be announced at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, via a radio announcement on WDEK Columbia’s Praise 95.7 FM, and the winning project will be posted on the SC Tracking website as well as WDEK’s Facebook page. 

DPH plans to roll the poster project competition out statewide in future semesters at other colleges and universities, as the agency continues to promote the use of SC Tracking dashboards and data. College and university faculty and staff interested in having students participate in future poster projects can contact DPH’s SC Tracking at sctracking@dph.sc.gov.  

"Giving students the tools and data needed for them to feel empowered to make healthy decisions, advocate for safer environments and promote available resources is a goal I hope this competition is able to meet,” said Katie O’Shields Free, DPH’s Section director of Epidemiology, Analytics and Data Visualization. “Our students are our future, so training them now is the first step to ensure we are building a better tomorrow for all South Carolinians.”  

Benedict College is the second Historically Black College in the nation and the first in South Carolina to receive national accreditation for its Environmental Health Program by the Environmental Health Accreditation Council. 

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