When writing my first post, I had just started to settle into life in Lilongwe, Malawi. Time flew by and I am already back at the airport, about to embark on my second learning experience of the summer, working as a Peacock Fellow with Carolina for Kibera (CFK) Africa in Nairobi, Kenya.
I’m so grateful that I was able to work with UNC Project-Malawi the past eight weeks for my MPH practicum. Malawi is known as the “Warm Heart of Africa” and I was pleased to be welcomed there by beautiful scenery and so many kind people. UNC Project-Malawi was really a special place for me to learn about sustainable academic partnerships. This is important to me because in our classes we have learned about the mistakes made in previous generations of international health work including groups from high-income countries doing harm in low-income countries despite often proclaiming they were there to help. We discussed in class the difference between intentions and impact. I have feared the possibility of making negative impacts in this field despite having good intentions.
I think that one key to working toward positive impact is long-term sustainable collaboration. UNC Project-Malawi seems like a good example, including having experienced UNC clinicians and researchers mentor early-career Malawian clinicians and researchers who may have historically not had accessed to the same caliber training that UNC is able to provide US-based trainees.
A major focus of my practicum became supporting partnerships in nursing across the UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing (UNC SON), UNC Project-Malawi, Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH), and the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS). Since nursing and midwifery makes up nearly 50% of the global health workforce, I was surprised to initially find that there was not more nursing collaboration happening between the UNC SON and UNC Project-Malawi. Focusing on this seemed like a great opportunity!
Luckily, there has been collaboration with the UNC SON since 2018 but the COVID-19 pandemic had largely stunted growth of the collaboration. Being on the ground in Lilongwe, I was able to be a catalyst to get things going again. I helped coordinate many meetings including with KUHeS nursing leadership, oncology nurses at KCH, faculty from the UNC SON, and staff from UNC Project-Malawi.
A previous goal of the collaboration was to hold regular Grand Rounds. One area of interest for KCH nurses from a prior needs assessment was Interprofessional Education and Practice (IPEP). I know the importance of this topic from my experience working clinically so was excited to make this a focus area. Thankfully, Dr. Meg Zomorodi – UNC SON professor and Assistant Provost for IPEP at UNC – agreed to lead the Grand Rounds! The first session focused on interprofessional education and then two weeks later a second session focused on interprofessional practice. Feedback from KUHeS faculty and KCH staff was very positive. Dr. Zomorodi and I hope to continue supporting IPEP initiatives in Lilongwe.
Finally, my other major focus was qualitative data analysis relating to perceptions of cancer care in Malawi and healthcare worker preparedness to work in oncology. Stay tuned for the findings to be published in coming months!
I look forward to continuing to support my practicum collaborators and projects as I am able, and hope that I can return to Malawi at some point. I am so grateful that pursuing my MPH at Gillings gave me this opportunity. For now though, on to Nairobi!
-Mitch