May 11, 2017

Zaman Founder and CEO Najah Bazzy named Hometown Health Hero by state’s public health leaders

The Michigan Public Health Partnership has given Zaman Founder and CEO Najah Bazzy a 2017 Hometown Health Hero Award for her efforts to protect and improve community health. Hometown Hero Awards are presented every April during Michigan’s Public Health Week to individuals who promote community health through education, policy and assessment.

This year, Michigan’s Public Health Week was celebrated on April 3-9 and synched with the National Public Health Week focus of “Healthiest Nation 2030.” The partnership noted that the United States spends more on health care than other comparable countries but experiences shorter lifespans and more chronic disease and infant mortality – across all ages and socioeconomic groups. Hometown Health Heroes are private organizations and individuals who are helping the United States achieve the goal of healthiest nation by pursuing varied public health objectives.

Among the objectives identified by the partnership are fostering income equality, promoting social justice, increasing access to healthy food, and helping youth graduate from high school – all of which Zaman does through its provision of urgent needs and job skills training to severely impoverished women with children.

“I am honored to be recognized as an agent of public health promotion,” said Bazzy. “As a registered nurse, I saw the interconnectedness of individuals’ physical, economic and social health and how each helped to promote and safeguard the others. Now, as head of a humanitarian organization, I see that same interconnectedness at the community level. It is exciting to think Zaman is doing its part for a healthier nation by helping to break the cycle of poverty.”

The Michigan Public Health Partnership is comprised of the Michigan Association of Counties, the Michigan Association for Local Public Health, the Michigan Department of Community Health, the Michigan Public Health Association, the Michigan Public Health Institute, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Grand Valley State University, Department of Public Health, Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, Inc., and Wayne State University.