Zambia – Page 3 – Gillings Around the globe

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

Mwauka bwanji to all our readers!!

Posted on August 28, 2019 by nayavill

Mwauka bwanji is Good morning in Nyanja, one of the most widely spoken languages in Lusaka, Zambia.

For the second phase of our practicum, we were privileged to travel to Lusaka, Zambia with our preceptor, Dr. Alan Rosenbaum. We went mainly to observe and interact with the Fetal Age and Machine Learning Initiative (FAMLI) project team based in Zambia.

With Dr. Kasaro (far right) and Project Coordinators in UNC GPZ.

We were welcomed by Dr. Margaret Kasaro, country director of UNC Global Projects Zambia (UNC GPZ). On our first day, we had the privilege to meet with the project coordinators who talked briefly about the various projects UNC had in Zambia. We discussed enrollment and retention strategies as well as barriers and delays usually encountered in the various studies ongoing in Zambia.

Over the next couple of days we visited the FAMLI project sites in both the University Teaching Hospital and the Kamwala Health Center. We were given a tour of both research facilities and had the chance to observe the process of delivering an informed consent to a participant, determining eligibility and actually receiving their ultrasounds. The data managers and research assistants also educated us on data entry and storage in ways that protected the identities of participants. The sonographers allowed us in their space and gave us an opportunity to scan some of the mothers with their permission (we are both medically trained doctors in our respective countries).

Observing the doctor scanning the mother.

Enam scanning a mother with her permission.

Munguu scanning a mother with her permission.

Alan interacting with a mother who benefitted from FAMLI scans.

The most exciting part of the trip was interacting with mothers at various stages. We had the chance to meet and talk with those waiting on their scans; those who were receiving their scans and could not hide their excitement when the gender of their babies was revealed; and even those who had benefitted from FAMLI scans and had their babies. They showed us how they carry their babies on their back with the chitenge. Mothers seemed happy to be a part of the FAMLI study because they had access to free monthly scans. Ordinarily they would have to pay about 70 Kwacha for an obstetric scan.

Enam learning to carry a baby with a chitenge.

Finally, we managed to do some tourism in Zambia on the weekends. We enjoyed great food, safaris and game drives in the Lower Zambezi National Park, visits to crocodile farms, taste of crocodile meat and, of course, the great Victoria Falls. Unfortunately, we did not see “Mosi oa Tunia” – “The smoke that thunders” because it was in the dry season, however, we saw the beautiful rock cliffs behind the Falls.

Munguu with White Rhinos in the background.

We cannot end this blog without saying a big Zikormo (Thank You) to our preceptor, Alan Rosenbaum, Dr. Kasaro, and everyone at UNC Gillings, Global Women’s Health Division and UNC GPZ for making this practicum experience successful!

– Munguu and Enam

Farewell (for now) Lusaka

Posted on August 7, 2019 by nayavill

Traditional Chitenge Dress I Had Made for a Bridal Shower

It is hard to believe that my time in Lusaka, Zambia is already coming to an end and I have to say, while there are reasons I am excited to return home, I am not too eager to leave the life I have started to create here. The local community in Lusaka is very supportive, inclusive and genuine and is full of interesting professionals which I am glad I had the chance to meet. I am grateful for the opportunity to mingle with people working at some of the leading international development and global health agencies such as the United Nations, the Ministry of Health and the CDC at a weekend braii (what we would call a barbeque or cookout) and to be able to talk to them about their work and experiences living in Zambia and other parts of the world.

While it took some time, I feel like I have adapted to the more laid-back lifestyle in Zambia and have enjoyed that fact that it is less stressful than back home. I can understand why I have met so many people who moved to Lusaka for what was supposed to be a few months or a year and have now been here for multiple years, some over 20. There does not seem to be the same sense of competitiveness and hurry that I often find myself caught up in while living and working back in the States. Now, there have been times I wished for a greater sense of urgency; like when we were without running water for a week because of a broken pipe, or sitting in the dark for four hours a day while the electricity was turned off, or stuck on the side of the road for hours at night because our bus broke down. Back in the States, moments like these would have thrown a wrench into my entire day and launched me into action to try and rectify what are, at the end of the day actually pretty minor, inconveniences. But here I find myself, more often than not, finding humor in these situations, doing what I can to change my routine but otherwise, accepting these are things I have no control over. I believe I am leaving Lusaka more relaxed with greater patience and a stronger ability to accept the things I cannot control.

At work, I feel that I have learned so much about the healthcare system in Zambia and am better able to understand problems the local healthcare system faces. I am leaving with many things to think about in terms of my potential role in developing solutions to strengthening local healthcare systems in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC). My work in Zambia had me at the University Teaching Hospital almost every day and while most of my time was in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or the research office, I also spent time in the delivery ward (witnessing my first birth!) and the Kangaroo Mother Care unit. I had the opportunity to speak to many professionals who have been a part of the healthcare system for years. I have spent most of my time here collecting and analyzing data related to neonatal health outcomes in order to quantify the cost of care for preterm births. I was keenly interested to learn how the hospital collects and analyzes data in order to report statistics, primarily on patient outcomes, to the local government and Ministry of Health. This was a great opportunity to see the challenges faced in collecting quality data on health outcomes and how this data is used (or not used) to drive decision making.

Overall, my time in Zambia has been wonderful and I feel that I have grown both personally and professionally. I have learned to be more flexible and adaptable and how to overcome obstacles that came up during our research, critically thinking about how to course-correct and move forward. I also feel I have greater appreciation of the importance of understanding the local context when working in different communities. I gained the most insight when I took the time to observe and listen to others, and put my initial assumptions and opinions aside.

It seems almost surreal that my time here is almost up and soon I will be back in class at UNC but I am sure that I will return to Zambia again.

– Taylor