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A Different Kind of Summer

Posted on by nayavill

I was looking forward to my practicum even before I was accepted into the MPH program. As a marine biologist transitioning to public health, I knew the practicum would be essential for me to establish myself in the global health field. I dreamed of doing my practicum at an international humanitarian agency in Amman, Jordan and spending the summer with my family there. Just as soon as I had secured a position there in March, all international travel was restricted. As an aspiring global health professional, I was so disappointed to be confined to my home state for the summer.

It certainly felt like a loss at the time, but I quickly realized the loss was not just mine. With the world in a chronic state of emergency, you quickly learn to let go of your plans and expectations. You eventually stop mourning all the events, activities, trips and travels you were supposed to take. Instead, you yearn to merely be able to safely see your friends and family. You stop touching your face and start second guessing every cough.

Looking on the bright side, work from home has its perks!
Looking on the bright side, work from home has its perks!

Fast forward five months, I am in the last week of my practicum with only a week left before the fall semester begins. While my original practicum dreams dissolved, I was granted an amazing opportunity to do work I am extremely passionate. I am working with my faculty mentor (something which would not have been possible pre-COVID19) on a research project which examines the breastfeeding experiences of internally displaced Yazidi mothers in Iraq. The Yazidi are a Kurdish ethnic minority who were brutally and systematically targeted by the Islamic State (ISIS) in August 2014. Over a matter of days, 2.5% of the Yazidi population was either killed or kidnapped. Now globally recognized as a genocide, the events of 2014 have forever changed the lives and futures of this community. Through this project, we hope to better understand the unique challenges and needs of Yazidi women to ultimately improve the humanitarian response for displaced pregnant and breastfeeding women and their infants. Not only I am getting to work with a Middle Eastern population, I am also developing qualitative data analysis and manuscript drafting skills, all the while learning about a new topic area with which I was previously unfamiliar. A resounding theme that has stood out from this research is resilience. With so many tragedies constantly confronting the world today, my spirit is continually renewed by the resilience and strength of human beings. It’s a powerful reminder that nothing is ever guaranteed and that we must be grateful for every new opportunity and every new day.

– Lein

All Eyes on Health Security

Posted on by nayavill

As I finish up my practicum with the Office of Pandemic and Emerging Threats with the US Department of Health and Human Services, I have been reflecting on how my areas of focus – epidemiology, health security, pandemic preparedness – have suddenly become topics of interest for almost every individual around the world. These issues that used to be reserved for a small but growing group of public health experts have now become the domain of dinner table conversations and social media posts. This made my practicum working with countries around the world on the Global Health Security Agenda and antimicrobial resistance feel increasingly important as we not only combat the COVID-19 pandemic but also consider how to better prepare the world for future pandemics and public health threats.

Exciting to see my work make its way onto the GHSA website as a resource for countries.
Exciting to see my work make its way onto the GHSA website as a resource for countries.

Much of my practicum focused on collecting best practices of sustainable financing for emergency preparedness and response, providing countries with practical steps and examples to mobilize domestic resources for building preparedness capacity and having funds available for rapid response. I spoke with countries such as Argentina, Republic of Korea, Italy, Nigeria, and Thailand on how they have been able to use national plans, legislation, and innovative financing mechanisms to fight COVID-19 and invest in broader preparedness. What I learned was that there is not one “right” way to invest in health security, but there are certain mechanisms that are extremely important to have in place. These conversations also brought me optimism, as one of the biggest challenges noted in the past was that Ministries of Finance and other leaders outside of health often failed to see the value or return on investment of preparedness. Now, with the economic impact of COVID-19 reaching unseen proportions, the return on investment of preparedness and prevention versus response is clear. While my time supporting these global initiatives has come to an end, I look forward to seeing how countries use the COVID-19 pandemic to make the case for investment in preparedness, not just response and economic recovery.

The benefits of a remote practicum include making the most of North Carolina's beautiful hikes.
The benefits of a remote practicum include making the most of North Carolina’s beautiful hikes.

My practicum was also a great reminder that while the world is currently focused on COVID-19, it is by no means the only public health threat we are facing. I also spent much of my practicum researching global progress on antimicrobial resistance, and providing recommendations for future multilateral commitments to ensure that we can continue to make progress towards addressing it. More broadly, we are also seeing how COVID-19 is affecting the delivery of childhood immunizations and life-saving medicines for diseases such as HIV, TB, and malaria, and it will be important to not lose sight of these other global health challenges as we combat COVID-19. I believe there has never been a more important time to be pursuing careers in public health, and I look forward to returning to campus shortly to continue to build my knowledge and technical skills to further health security.

– Kirsten

Wrapping Up

Posted on by nayavill

I am back in Chapel Hill, where I am self-quarantining for fourteen days as I wrap up my practicum. To complete my products, I am writing a report to summarize my work over the past two months, including a logic model describing the peer support program in the Dominican Republic, a literature review of the evidence base for such programs, and a compilation of instruments that are commonly used in evaluations of such programs.

View from my window while quarantining in Chapel Hill.
View from my window while quarantining in Chapel Hill.

I am grateful to my preceptor, the community health workers, doctors, and researchers from Chronic Care International who have been extremely resourceful, flexible, and patient in guiding me throughout my practicum. I have learned a lot about how to listen to and prioritize the needs of the community and organization while being mindful of the financial and time barriers they face. In some ways, working remotely has provided me with a unique opportunity to practice reflecting on my biases for my future work. Since I am not in the Dominican Republic because of the coronavirus-related travel constraints, I wonder if some opportunities for biases, such as those introduced from my perceptions of being in and experiencing a foreign country, are reduced. Instead of falling into a false sense of security about my knowledge of the context for having spent time there physically, it was easy to recognize that I know very little – for I have never even been to the Dominican Republic – and therefore needed to rely heavily on the word of local experts to describe the context, program, and patients, which is probably how it should always be anyway.

– Marlena