Gillings Around the globe – Page 37 – Local is Global. Global is Local.

Honesty | Assertiveness | Dialog

Posted on July 8, 2022July 1, 2022 by

Adam Aicha Hanne at her family’s farm outside of Bamako city

The beginning of the week was frustrating. The cycle of going home early due to the lack of work assigned to me perpetuated for three days. I felt like my time and money were being wasted as I would catch a taxi to work every morning to find out that there was no work for me to do. Although my preceptor-student meeting was coming up on Thursday, I decided to approach my supervisor on Wednesday with my concerns. I first asked my supervisor if he’d be joining the student-preceptor meeting set for Thursday. He expressed that he’d like to attend if he gets invited by the head director. Due to my uncertainty about his attendance at the preceptor-student meeting, I decided to share my meeting content with him because the information would be useful to him when considering future international interns. I shared with him some pros and cons I had experienced thus far at Mali Health and possible solutions for future interns. The pros I shared with him were how pleased I was with the work Mali Health was conducting and how I loved the work atmosphere and the individual characters of my colleagues. The cons I shared with him were how I was displeased with the slow pace of the work being conducted and how I felt like my time and money were being wasted every time I came into work and left early due to the lack of work being assigned to me. I explained to him how I expected to contribute to the Sustainable Community Project (SCP) every day, but instead, I come to work early and leave early due to the lack of work being conducted. I thought sharing my thoughts and feelings with him would make him upset, but instead, he listened and smiled with acknowledgment. After expressing my thoughts with him, he explained to me how Mali Health was backed up in work due to the hiccup we experienced last week with the office being shut down. He said that currently he and the financing team were working towards approving the finances of the SCP project and that once the financing was complete we could move forward with the project. He also acknowledged my concerns by agreeing with me about the slow pace of the work. Thus, together we came up with several solutions to avoid this in the future. Together, we agreed that interns should be assigned weekly assignments ahead of time that focus on their projects. We also agreed that the workload should be average with several onboarding meetings held before their arrival to Mali, thus allowing Mali Health and the student to plan their weekly activities together. After speaking with my supervisor, I was excited for my preceptor-student meeting as I was initially nervous to open up and be honest with my team. My dialog with my supervisor allowed us to grow closer as a team with a level of respect that was previously absent.

Embrace

Let’s Get To Work

Mali Health team and teams of investigators at the waste composition orientation

On Friday, we finally started working on the Waste Composition Analysis by hosting an orientation with our team of investigators responsible for conducting the in-the-field research on physical waste generation by households, and marketplaces in our three target peri-urban communities. The orientation was successful, and we were able to identify possible challenges with our strategic plan for conducting the in-the-field research through demonstrations on how to analyze waste generations. During the orientation, I loved how the Mali Health team and the team of investigators engaged with each other. There was this familiarity between them like that of a family. Seeing this was humbling as this is not something I feel is highly valued in the United States. It’s rare to work with an organization or company that centers its success around the chemistry of its employees.

May Your Trash Be My Treasure

Adam Aicha Hanne with the Mali Health team at Cicoroh separating the waste by category

Our goal at Mali Health is to turn waste into a profitable commodity. To do so we borrowed the Sustainable Community Project from Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) in Ghana. Like GAYO, we want to work with peri-urban communities to convert everyday trash into reusable products. But our very first step towards achieving our goal is to conduct research. Our research is composed of five analyses, three of which I am currently working on; waste generation analysis, social norms analysis, and stakeholder analysis.

Mali Health Team at Kalababougou conducting the physical waste generation investigation

This week we focused on the waste generation analysis as it is the most time-consuming and physically demanding one. Along with our team of investigators, we went into our target communities–i.e. Sabalibougou, Ciscoroh, and Kalababougou– to physically analyze the waste generated by our participating homes. Investigators were provided with a spreadsheet that categorized the different types of waste that are typically found in waste sacs. Teams of investigators were responsible for adequately weighing the waste sacs and identifying the waste found in the waste sac along with weighting each category of waste found. Later, this information will be used to identify which waste products are recyclable and the total waste per category will be quantified. Through our analyzes, we will understand the types of waste generated by our targeted communities, and how their waste can potentially benefit them.

-Adam

Sláinte (Cheers), Galway! Until next time

Posted on July 7, 2022July 1, 2022 by

My dear colleagues surprised me with a sweet going-away celebration. The day started with homemade cookies and ended with a 3-Dimensional cut-out of Galway which really put my skills to the test — My dear colleagues surprised me (third from the left) with a sweet going-away celebration. The day started with homemade cookies and ended with a 3-Dimensional cut-out of Galway which really put my skills to the test

While my time at the Heath Promotion Research Centre (HPRC) is coming to a close, I know it’s not the end of my work with them (as promised, I’ll certainly be back!). The influential research that is being done at the HPRC is tangibly changing the scope of health across the entire population of Ireland, and I am so honored to have played an incredibly small role in it. At the start of this journey, I never could have imagined it would be so hard to say goodbye, but I suppose that’s what happens when you’re adopted with open arms into a ‘family’!

Conference minions at work! (I’m on the far right)

Much has transpired since my last blog post. On June 16^th, the Health Promotion Research Centre hosted its 26th annual Health Promotion Conference. Quite fittingly, this year’s theme was Health Inequity. Delegates from all over the country joined for the first face-to-face conference in two years (including Minister of Health Frank Feighan and keynote speaker Michael Marmot from the Institute of Health Equity)! I quickly learned that a national conference requires a lot of behind-the scenes operations and planning. I was honored to act as a minion during the preceding week — meeting with caterers, organizing guest lists, and laminating signs (oddly satisfying). On the day of, I had the opportunity to join some incredibly stimulating plenary sessions and workshops with Health Service Executive (HSE) executives, PhD students, and faculty of NUI Galway. Some of my favorites included: ‘reducing inequity using social prescribing’ and ‘a cautionary tale of community involvement in action for health equity’.

Beyond the conference, most of my time has been spent writing the advocacy report for the recently established NUI Galway Student Pantry. This has involved a literature review on food insecurity in university settings (spoiler alert – it’s not looking good), qualitative analysis of the student feedback during the pantry’s 10-week pilot launch, and actionable recommendations for both university and pantry management/leadership moving forward. Some of my research and analysis from the report was even included in a presentation at the Conference! Writing this advocacy report has been an invaluable experience which has highlighted for me the need of knowledge translation in research. I have become extremely invested in the Student Pantry, as food insecurity is an extremely pressing (yet often overlooked) issue in university settings. I’m excited to share the final piece once it’s officially published!

Over the past few weeks, I have also had the opportunity to visit a handful of local public health and social services agencies/organizations that put into action what the HPRC reports on: Comhairle na Nog (Youth Advocacy Council), Westside Youth Project (Youth Service Provider), and the Galway Traveller Movement. As a future public health professional, I found it invaluable to first-handedly witness the ways in which another country’s systems operate and I am eager to translate and adapt what I have absorbed into future settings.

Cheesy as it may sound, I’ve learned just as much outside of my practicum as in the office. It’s easy when locals were always willing to answer my question: “what is one thing I can’t leave without doing?” Through these serendipitous conversations, I cycled the 7 castles of Galway county with a group of Irish cyclers, hiked 18km from the wind-surfing city of Lahinch to the Cliffs of Moher (unobstructed views all to myself!), cycled the most gorgeous Greenway from the city of Westport to the island of Achill, cheered on Galway in the Hurling championship (native Gaelic sport), climbed ‘Diamond Hill’ — a mountain in Connemara National Park, took a day-trip to Athlone with a group of new friends (each of which represented a different county of Ireland!), jumped off the Blackrock Diving Board and into the Atlantic Ocean (Galwegian right-of-passage), and so much more! Galway is truly a magical place, and I know I’ll be back! Thank you, HPRC, for giving me the opportunity to explore my role in Public Health and the world. Now I’m off to spend the rest of the summer with family and friends across Europe!

This is how I will remember Ireland. Until next time!

Learning About Sustainable Collaborations in Global Health

Posted on July 6, 2022July 1, 2022 by

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.

Relaxing during a weekend trip to Cape Maclear (Lake Malawi)

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.

Taken from the UNC Project- Annex, the sun sets over the recently constructed Cancer Center at Kamuzu Central Hospital

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