Combating Global Health Challenges in Developing Countries through Youth Community Based Health Projects

It’s a smart approach to always support and put innovations into practice. I have succeeded in starting and running projects when I don’t have a tenth of the necessary funds to accomplish them, but because of the strategic stakeholder analysis, I have managed to lead and accomplish initiatives such as the NSAC-UG Health exhibition. Thanks to my team members who are always their to support the initiatives even during times when there is no payment attached. This post outlines all the details of the project executed in Kampala in the year 2015.

Title of the project

Nursing Students' Association Consortium Uganda Annual Health Exhibition

My role in the project

Founder, President and Over seer

The Year the project was started

2013

Project context 

The Nursing Students' Association Consortium Uganda Health Exhibition is a health initiative that involves mobilization of student-nurses and midwives from various universities to voluntarily offer free health services and also present innovative health initiatives and products to the general public. The health initiative is undertaken through the Nursing Students’ Association Consortium Uganda (NSAC-UG) a body undergoing development into a national students body for the baccalaureate student nurses in Uganda. Stations with different health activities are set up at the exhibition grounds and the public invited to consume the offered services free of charge. Health Organizations get invited to participate in the initiative to offer free health services to the communities. 

The recent one was organized in Kampala at Victoria University from 29th to 31st October 2015 following the one at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 2014. The principal goal was to create an opportunity for equitable access of health resources and services to the public. People received free health services during the initiative for example cervical cancer screening and HIV testing.

Other goals of the initiative include; to create community awareness on non-communicable diseases, to save lives through Blood donation, to promote the spirit of volunteerism among student-nurses and to create unity among student-nurses from the different universities.

Significance of the project

The project is significant for it ensures promotion of good health as communities are health educated and also provided with free health services, It fosters unity between students and the invited health organizations and it promotes the UN sustainable development goal number 3 which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

Details of the recent one executed in Kampala, Uganda 

The project was organized at Victoria University Kampala from 29th to 31st October 2015.  The services executed included; Quantum resonance Magnetic analysis, Cervical Cancer Screening, HIV Testing and Counselling, Family planning services, Random Blood Sugar Testing, Breast Cancer Health Education, Breast Examinations, Blood pressure check-ups and Health education on nutrition, male circumcision, Sanitation and TB

Station one involved a team of seven Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union (UNMU) wellness centre staff who participated in this exhibition. The main focus of the wellness centre was to do routine health check-ups for early detection and prevention of diseases. The activities at this station included Blood sugar check-ups, Blood pressure check-up, body mass index assessment and Quantum resonance Magnetic analysis, HIV counselling and testing and also health education. During the health check-ups, 165 clients were assessed by the wellness team and among these, 34 had high blood pressure and 5 had high blood sugars, 5 were underweight, 35 were overweight. Cases of hypertension and diabetes were referred for further management to physicians while those with weight issues were counselled and educated on how to manage their weight. 

Stations 2 to 6 had student-nurse educators and involved health education of the participants on; male circumcision, nutrition, breast examination and Tuberculosis.  The following were major concerns noted at these stations as participants interacted with the student-health educators; How to lose weight, how male circumcision reduces chances of contracting HIV AIDS, How to have proper nutrition and how diseases contracted due to poor sanitation

Station 7 involved a team from reproductive health Uganda. It participated in the exhibition at this station with the principal aim of reaching out both the university students and the community members to access information and services on family planning. 27 participants were tested for cervical cancer and 37 female participants enrolled for family planning services. The subjects were in an age range of 18 to 50. Condoms were distributed to participants whereby 39 pieces and 30 boxes were female condoms and 57 Boxes were male condoms. A total of 18 emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) were distributed with 13 taken by females and 5 by males. The peer educators from the youth Corner and service providers of katego did demonstrate, provide and educate people on family planning and how they work. A total of 72 Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials were used whereby 32 were for males and 40 for female participants. 

Station 8 involved a team from The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) that participated in the exhibition at this station for one day whereby they carried out HIV testing and counselling.  49 participants enrolled in the services at this station with 26 of them males, and 23 females. 47 were HIV negative and 2 HIV positive whereby one female and one male had the disease. The 2 positive participants were counselled and linked for health care

Challenges

The challenges which we faced during the implementation of the project included the following;

There were limited funds to support the people who were providing health services to the community.

Some health organizations required payment of their workers if they were to participate in the project.

The rain limited people from engaging in the activities

There was limited publicity on the media about the project

How We Overcame the Challenges

To overcome some of the challenges we did the following;

As an organizing team, we contributed some money to the project so as to facilitate drinks and a meal to each service provider at the stations.

We applied for financial support and the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union gave us some funds.

We requested Victoria University to support us in the publicity of the project on media and it did so.

The Creativity in the approach of the project

The project involved reaching out people in their local geography of Kampala, demonstrating and demanding for a return demonstration during health education. People had a maximum face to face interaction with the health providers and the services were free of charge. The project ran for 3 days with each day having activities executed for 8 hours. We also involved the ministry of health whereby the close off day of the exhibition was honoured by the commissioner Nursing, Ministry of health, Madam Catherine Betty Odeke.  Student participants came from the following institutions; Victoria University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Bishop Stuart University and International Health Sciences University

Impact of the project and how changes were observed

The Nursing Students Associations in NSAC-UG have taken up the project at their respective institutions for example Bishop Stuart University Nursing Students' Association (BSUNSA) took up the project in 2014 and branded it 'BSUNSA Nursing Week,' Mbarara University Nursing Students' Association (MUNSA) also took up the project and branded it 'MUNSA Nursing Week'

The above changes of the project were observed when I was invited to be a delegate at their close off days since I was the president and Co-founder of NSAC-UG that unites the associations. I was also invited to participate in some of the activities of the BSUNSA Nursing Week project. 

A report from the student participants of the project at Victoria University in 2015 implied that a number of people continued to move to their institution to inquire about the continuity of the project in the same location.  

Another report from some of the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union wellness centre team that participated in the 2015 project showed that a number of local people who got involved in the project in 2015 sought out health services at the Wellness Centre later on.

Significance of the Impact /changes  

-The changes due to the project imply; 

     -The need to extend health services to the people in their respective local communities for easier access.

     -The need to increase community based health projects.

     -The need to emphasize continuous health check-ups for some diseases don't show signs at early stages hence promoting prevention of diseases to a primary stage. 

The current status of the project, plans to sustain, transfer, replicate, expand or conclude it. 

Currently, the project is under the management and leadership of the Nursing Students Association Consortium Uganda a national body for the degree student nurses where I am the President, therefore, the new cabinet members of the consortium shall be oriented about it and also given documented reports stipulating details on how the previous projects were executed to success and also the challenges that were met. The documents shall act as guidelines on how to run the project by the new cabinet.

I will let the incoming cabinet know that I will be available to help in case they need my help in running the project for example by writing fund proposals since I succeeded in one of the fund proposals I wrote to the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Union to help in the running of the project whereby they provided us with the money, and also I have ever succeeded in writing and winning a hepatitis B grant proposal with Heather Wappot to the Peace Corps whereby, I initiated a hepatitis B vaccination initiative at Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital upon receiving the money through Mbarara University Nursing Students' Association in 2013.

Why the project works 

The project works because it targets a wide number of people at the same time and the health services are extended to their local communities making it easy to access them free of charge. The project includes partnership with already established health organizations and universities hence making it easy to achieve the set goals mainly that of equitable access of health resources and services to the community hence reducing operational costs due to partnerships.

    What others can learn from my experience with this project 

    -Partnerships aid in reduction of operational costs when running projects.

    -Having a committed and trustworthy team eases work when running projects. 

         -Leadership is a key role in running successful projects.

         -It is very crucial to have some entrepreneurial knowledge when one is to run a   successful project.

    -Proper planning and early preparations is paramount when one is to run a successful   project. 

     

     Recommendation

 

There is need for financial support to the youth community based health activities that enhance capacity building and development.

There is need for combined efforts by health and non-government organizations to combat health challenges in communities by increasing health service provider participation.

There is need to increase the number and frequency of health programs that promote health equity at community level with priority focus in rural areas.

Conclusion
 

Youth community based health programs can play a big role in rectifying global health challenges when well supported and given priority.

MUST MIT SANA Global Health Informatics

‘Trend as a trade’ a phenomenon in global partnership for development

 

Generally it is a moment of ecstasy having reached the graduation day for often school is an arena for struggle in my home area since many students do not come from well off families. You start many at the beginning but graduate a few at the end. This is a clear sign that perhaps, a few individuals get the chance to attain formal education. 

‘Over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty and they die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth. About 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005 and 57% of them were girls. Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation and millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water. For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter and 270 million with no access to health services. Worldwide, 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized and 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.’  Anup Shah.

For the past two years, I lived by a phenomenon of ‘reverse engineering’ which involves employment of retrospective approaches in work, actions and thoughts, but also emulation of ways and conducts for people, companies and organizations one would like to be and build, hence making one a clone. ‘We ought to be the change we seek’ was the song for each day that passed by. 

Education is an expensive entity, if you can get it for free, then count yourself among the luckiest people on planet earth. It is a fundamental tool in neutralizing global challenges, but the type, style, learner and its access plays a big influence in the context. The ongoing campaign of Mass Open Online Courses ‘MOOC’ is one of the best strategic initiative to rectifying global challenges. It ensures that those who cannot afford education, at least can access free knowledge. This shows diversification and a new education pattern hence ‘trend as a trade’. 

It’s paramount for one to have a trend to trade in as a means to investment or livelihood. Trading is not necessarily having money as a means for transaction but rather a trend of patterns to break through. Intangibles such as good reputation, honesty, passion, insightfulness, verbal intelligence, critical, logical and creative thinking make a trend. ‘Our mission is to give a world class education to everyone, everywhere, regardless of gender, income or social status’ edx .This implies trend as a pattern and a trade to achieve the millennium development goals. 

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The worldly challenges shall best be solved through global partnership for development. This move is highly evidenced with the following organizations and initiatives: Young African Leaders Initiative Network by the US government, Consortium of Universities for Global health in Boston, free e-learning by Food and Agriculture organization and Youthful Cities in Canada.

Strategy needs a great deal of time and an efficient multidisciplinary team approach. Tactically, learners should be highly taught to use one discipline to solve challenges in another. This should mark the modern day education foundation.  Further, feasible, efficient and a tested innovative strategy should come before any intentional or purposeful trend. The variability in tackling similar problems shows a trade in a trend. This is so due to patterns.

You can’t solve a problem you are not aware of. Institutions mainly in developing countries should aggressively embrace and focus on research as a pillar to reaching means of resolving both local and global challenges. A big applaud goes to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for its campaign on research. The different exposure among countries should be taken advantage of as measure to coming up with creative means for solving global challenges.  

Reverse engineering should be the order for day in developing countries. It has an entity of emulation which is highly fueled by motivation for emotions are energies in motion. This implies that organizations and governments should focus on the youth empowerment for development as a strategy for the day to day and future investment. 

More than 50% of women are in the middle management level. How best should women be transcended to higher executive levels?  Perhaps having more of them in those positions would escalate easier achievement of millennium development goals. This could be so, for there would be an increment in numbers of personnel focusing on and tackling similar challenges hence a synergistic approach and trend. 

There are lots of talents that go unnoticed and unutilized in developing countries. Mobilizing and transforming them into purposeful and solution oriented entities would perhaps contribute to an escalated global partnership for development. The question is, how best can we locate and transform those talents in the communities?  

Think like an economist, reason like a philosopher but act like a medic. Any type of decision is an investment. Bad ones make bad or poor investments. Giving financial aid to developing countries may not profoundly aid in efficient rectification of global challenges. Teaching people how to solve challenges is sustainable and a better option for skills can be transferable from one generation to another hence a platform for future development and self-sustainability. You are barely interdependent unless you get independent.  It’s therefore imperative for nations to embrace and initiate integrated agendas which emphasize or highly prioritize research, creativity and equitable access to resources as a trend of neutralizing global challenges.