Summer 2022 – Page 19 – Gillings Around the globe

Engaging families in HIV post-natal care & infant feeding in Zambia!

Posted on June 21, 2022June 21, 2022 by

Enioluwaduroti on a hiking trip to Chimney Rock State Park

My name is Enioluwaduroti Johnson, I am a second-year MPH student in the maternal, child and family health concentration. As a medical doctor and an aspiring pediatrician from Nigeria, I knew that I wanted a practicum that was globally focused to low- and middle-income countries. My practicum is at the University Of North Carolina, Gillings Zambia Hub. This is an organization with a mission to partner with Zambia to address urgent global health challenges.

My practicum organization is working on analyzing and disseminating data from a formative research project focused on infant care and feeding practices among families affected by HIV. The project has conducted qualitative research to examine the feasibility and acceptability of engaging male partners, grandmothers, and other family members to support HIV-positive mothers in Lusaka to practice recommended infant care and feeding practices, and women for continued antiretroviral therapy adherence.

My practicum project involves participating in qualitative data analysis and preparing findings to share with key stakeholders in Zambia. I am working with the team on using qualitative analysis software ATLAS.TI to code the responses from the interviews that took place in Lusaka. I will also be creating dissemination materials with research findings for different audiences.

Beautiful sunset view at Durham Bulls Athletic Park

For my practicum, I wanted to work somewhere that focused on work involving mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa. This was in accordance with my career goals of improving the lives of people in that population and in that region. My goals for my practicum included learning a skill, which I am doing by learning and using the ATLAS.TI software for my research analysis and coding. Another goal I had was to do something out of my comfort zone, I wanted to be stretched mentally and academically and I believe that this practicum is going to provide me with that experience.

My practicum has been amazing so far!!! My preceptor and teammates have been welcoming and helpful. I look forward to our weekly meetings where I learn so much from everyone. I am also looking forward to learning how to use the organizational network analysis software after coding the transcripts. It has been an interesting learning experience and I am excited to see it unfold.

Thank you for reading.

Have great summer!

-Enioluwaduroti

Best of Both Worlds!

Posted on June 21, 2022June 21, 2022 by

Intentional Self- Care ft. Jasmine, donuts, and a milkshake!

Hi there! My name is Jasmine Hodges, I’m a rising 2^nd year MPH candidate in the Maternal, Child, and Family Health (MCFH) concentration. This summer I am working with UNC’s Zambia Hub as their analysis and dissemination intern. You may ask, what does that mean, haha? Well, right now I’m helping with a systematic review that evaluates literature to help identify risk factors for HIV acquisition during pregnancy and breastfeeding in sub-Saharan Africa.

So far, I’ve enjoyed working on the project because it combines two topics I’m passionate about, HIV prevention and MCH in a global setting. I specifically like that this research is focused on pregnant and breastfeeding women which is a population that is often overlooked. In addition to learning more about this population, I’m learning about the many methods of public health research; and gaining a deeper understanding of different epidemiologic terminology and measurements. The skills I learned in SPHG 712 are really coming in handy 🙂

As this summer continues, I hope this experience gives me some further insight on what I call “the behind-the-scenes work,” producing research that informs solutions. Prior to starting my MPH program, I worked a lot with community engagement and implementing interventions. I discovered that I really enjoyed this, but I wanted to learn more about how those solutions are created and how the ideas all begin; for me the best way to do that was through research. I look forward to this experience showing me more of that side, and in the future hopefully I will be able to culminate my skills to work with the best of both worlds.

Overall, this summer is off to a great start! I think there may be a few challenges since I am working from home. It will be important to take those necessary breaks and have intentional check-ins with my support system. One of my goals this summer is to explore the different coffee shops in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Durham to get out of the house and work. Wish me luck! 🙂

-Jasmine

Mapping the Gaps of Nutrition Research in Zambia

Posted on June 21, 2022June 21, 2022 by

Hello! My name is Mia Haller, I’m an MPH student in the Global Health concentration here at Gillings. For my practicum, I am working with Dr. Stephanie Martin as a communications intern for Scaling Up Nutrition – Learning and Evaluation (SUN-LE) through the Gillings Zambia Hub. SUN-LE is a USAID project tasked with providing survey, research, evaluation, and data-dissemination services to the Zambian government with the goal of improving nutrition outcomes in Zambia, primarily decreasing rates of under-five stunting.

Prior to coming to UNC, I spent two years working as the Global and Public Health Fellow at Cornell University, primarily helping to run two global health partnerships, one based in Moshi, Tanzania and other in Lusaka, Zambia. In searching for a practicum, I grappled with how to best utilize my academic background and experiences while also seeking an opportunity that would allow me to explore emerging topic area interests and push me to develop new skills. With this practicum position, I was thrilled by the chance to continue working with colleagues in Lusaka and further pursuing my interests in maternal and child nutrition all in the context of communicating and disseminating public health research.

Using Tableau to design an early draft of our evidence gap map

My first practicum project is the development of an evidence gap map of multisectoral nutrition research in Zambia in support of the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC). An evidence gap map is an interactive data visualization that provides a visual overview of the existing evidence on a particular topic, with the hope of identifying gaps in the current evidence base. While I wasn’t familiar with evidence gap maps prior to beginning this project, I have come to appreciate them as such an incredible tool to consolidate a high volume of information into an intuitive and accessible format. So far, I have had the opportunity to work with a team of folks from SUN-LE and the University of Zambia to finalize a scoping review of maternal and child nutrition research in Zambia, that serves as the foundation for the evidence gap map. We already have over 400 articles! Since finishing up the scoping review of maternal and child nutrition, I have been working with the wonderful librarians at UNC to learn how to use Tableau to turn our data into a useable map. While learning how to use Tableau to create data visualizations wasn’t necessarily something I was searching for in a practicum, I am already thinking about all the other ways I can continue building upon this skillset. I have even enrolled in a data visualization class for the fall! Our evidence gap map is still very much a work in progress, but I’ve already had the opportunity to lead a training session with some of my colleagues who were interested in learning more about the process of developing the map. I am looking forward to getting feedback from the SUN-LE and NFNC teams and continuing to work on other communication and dissemination products throughout the summer.

Enjoying finding new places to work remotely, even from my hammock!

I have been enjoying the flexibility to work remotely thus far and enjoy summer in Chapel Hill but am thrilled to have the opportunity to spend a few weeks in Lusaka at the end of my practicum. Looking forward to checking back in from Lusaka in July!

-Mia