BE KIND (to yourself).

Posted on by nayavill

This past week, I completed my practicum under the North Carolina Institute of Public Health where I received the chance to create three products as part of my practicum requirements. I hope my contributions prove to serve as meaningful additions to the Behind the Numbers project. It was a pleasure working with my preceptors, who created a fun and welcoming environment for me during these difficult times.

Although, I managed to complete quality work in a timely manner, admittedly a portion of my experience was bogged down by external happenings. With the consistent and open oppression of Black people due to racism, I honestly suffered from poor mental health this summer. During the early stages of my practicum, I possessed little to no energy, I hardly ate, living in a predominantly white area I constantly experienced paranoia throughout the day and night (despite public notices of Black Lives Matter signs), and I barely slept due to insomnia. Therefore, everyday posed an internal conflict. Should I give myself the space and time to process these intense emotions or put those emotions aside for the sake of productivity? At first, I always chose the latter given the pressure to perform well in a new organization. However, I noticed these attempts at work and emotion suppression produced the opposite effect, and caused me to procrastinate.

My energy and productivity remained in this problematic cycle for several weeks until I reached my limit in terms of dealing with my poor mental health. As a way to alleviate this, I tried embodying a “treat yourself’ mentality. I allowed myself to experience any and all emotions associated with Black oppression: anger, anxiety, fear, sadness,etc… In addition, I constantly reminded myself that it is absolutely OKAY to be in this state, and that it is okay to function with little to no energy. At first, I thought this would lead to overindulging and excuses to not do work, however as the days progressed, I found that my spirits began to ease and my interest in my work began to increase. By July, I felt like myself again and began to function at my normal and familiar levels. In the end everything turned out well, however it was certainly a journey.

Normally, I do not share my inner feelings to this extent nevertheless I aim to normalize the concept of balancing work and mental health. In my opinion, it is foolish to push yourself for the sake of productivity if you lack energy and the will to do so. The ultimate strategy is practicing and showing yourself kindness and grace. Hopefully, this post inspires others to do the same, because you certainly deserve it.

– Brandon

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