ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT DIYANAH JILANI, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
Georgia Institute of Technology | Georgia, United States | Advancing SDG 3, SDG 10 & UNAI 9
" I am passionate about advocating for healthcare education among low-income and immigrant communities, which is often overlooked in America, with my background as a child of immigrants and someone whose first language is not English. By providing more resources in the native tongues of residents in America, there will be more ways to understand how to prioritize providing healthcare treatment to these groups of people, along with developing nations, while also understanding ways to prevent illnesses or diseases from spreading in these nations. As a Millennium Fellow, I am excited to be the voice for those who may not be able to use their voice while highlighting the importance of healthcare education and the utmost quality for all groups of people. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Bridging Health Through Language
I am interested in having my project create databases, pamphlets, and presentations about general illnesses, causes of diseases, and symptoms of diseases available in multiple languages that are popular among the Metro Atlanta area, such as Spanish, Korean, Bengali, and Arabic, to increase healthcare accessibility. While many immigrant families use Google Translate or other translation apps to understand any illnesses their physician describes, Bridging Health Through Language will create a comprehensive place for all general and rare illnesses with accurate translations and everyday language written by fluent or native speakers. Additionally, workshops would take place in community spaces, such as religious facilities, non-profit events, or doctor offices, to talk about healthcare in the audience’s native tongue while providing the resources for all the illnesses prevalent in their community. Eventually, the resource can be shared with other parts of Georgia and the United States based on the demographics of those cities and the most common health issues there. Overall, the goal of Bridging Health Through Language is to increase healthcare accessibility for low-income and under-resourced communities.
About the Millennium Fellow
Diyanah Jilani is a junior at the Georgia Institute of Technology, majoring in Biology and double minoring in Health and Medical Sciences and Middle Eastern and North African Studies. As a Georgia native born to Bangladeshi immigrants, Diyanah is passionate about the intersection of medicine, technology, social advocacy, and the visual arts, and about ensuring that low-income and disadvantaged communities receive quality healthcare. Through her project, she hopes to advocate for these groups, which may face language barriers in healthcare settings, by creating resources in their native languages and allowing them to express their needs comfortably and accurately without hesitation.
