AfOx in collaboration with
partners across the UK and Africa has received a Wellcome Institutional
Strategic Support Fund to establish an Africa Health Innovation Platform.
Africa’s population is expected
to double by 2050 and will account for more than half of global population
growth. Africa is also the youngest continent in the world, with a median age
of most African countries under 20 years. There is an explosion of talent in
innovation, entrepreneurship, new ideas and technology-led solutions across the
continent.
The Africa Health Innovation
Platform will be a multi-disciplinary platform to support African innovators to
develop new solutions to Africa’s health challenges. The Platform will bring
together researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, technologists, policymakers,
and change leaders to develop new approaches towards prevention, early
detection and treatment of diseases.
The Africa Health Innovation
Platform will initially run for two years. Each year 50 outstanding emerging
African innovators proposing new solutions for health challenges will be competitively
selected. The candidates will receive bespoke interactive on-line training and
an opportunity to use virtual workrooms to further work on their ideas.
Out of the 50 candidates, a
number of candidates with the top outstanding projects will be awarded AfOx
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellowships for face-to-face training,
mentorship and technical collaborative support in Oxford.
AfOx is proud to have supported a documentary series titled ‘Right to a Better World’ that was produced in collaboration with WHO and HRP, UN Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Oxford Human Rights Hub (OxHRH). The documentary explores how tactics developed by the human rights movement can be used to achieve sexual and reproductive health rights, and drive meaningful progress towards the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In each episode across the series, experts in health and human rights share their professional struggles and successes working on the frontline of communities worldwide. As advocates and activists, they represent a broad range of professional fields, ages, levels and backgrounds.
The episodes can be watched at home, in groups and in classroom settings. Viewers are encouraged to learn from the experiences shared, and consider how tactics could be adapted to their own contexts.
“This powerful series creates a unique synergy between academic and practical human rights approaches, vividly demonstrating the key role human rights can play when advocating for sexual and reproductive health rights in political, legal, and international forums.”
-Professor Sandra Fredman, Director of the Oxford Human Rights Hub
Right to a better world videos
Comprehensive sexuality education (episode 1 of 4)
Building support and understanding of every young person’s right to education, health and well-being, in an inclusive and gender equal society.
Contraception (episode 2 of 4)
Ensuring each woman’s and adolescent’s right to make decisions about their reproductive health and future.
Maternal mortality and morbidity (episode 3 of 4)
Ensuring every woman’s and adolescent’s right to not only survive pregnancy and childbirth, but have a positive experience of this profound life event.
Violence against women (episode 4 of 4)
Building a world in which women and girls are free from all forms of violence and discrimination.
Read more about the project on the WHO website here: https://www.who.int/news/item/18-11-2020-your-right-to-a-better-world
On 29 October 2020, the Africa Oxford Initiative hosted a Graduate Admissions Q&A. A wonderful panel made of current students, graduate admissions officers and professors answered questions that were sent to us from prospective applicants from across the African continent.
These are some of the top tips that emerged from the discussion.
1. Start your application early
Applications for admission into the University of Oxford open in September and, for most courses, close by January. Different courses may have different application requirements – so make sure that you’re aware of everything that you need to submit as part of your application.
An important part of every application to any course are the references. Starting your application early allows your referees to have enough time to write and submit your reference letter as well.
And while they are doing that, you can reflect on as well as edit and refine other components of the application like your personal statement, academic writing samples or research proposal.
2. You need excellent grades to be eligible. But you need to demonstrate more if you want to be a competitive applicant.
Your CV and your personal statement are an opportunity for you to demonstrate your expertise and to show how passionate you are about the subject. However, avoid using generic and stock phrases like “I have wanted to do this since I was 3 years old”. Instead, highlight the times when you have volunteered or participated in extracurricular activities to show that you are really passionate about the subject.
Make sure to include any practical experience and publications (including blogs and op-eds) that you may have written as well. Your personal statement must be unique to you. So, think carefully about your reasons for applying and what you hope to gain.
For prospective DPhil applicants, you can contact your potential supervisor before submitting the application. This first email is your chance to impress. Therefore, ensure that it is targeted, explains why you think that this particular academic is best suited to supervise you and describes your research interests well. But more importantly, the research proposal is a chance to show that you are capable of formulating a research plan. Give yourself enough time to do it properly.
3.Put your academic achievements into context
The people who are considering your application might not be familiar with the grading structures and systems of your university. Therefore, say something in your statement about the grading structure, the courses you took and where you ranked in the class as well as any prizes you might have won to put the grades on your transcripts into context.
Some universities may not award a lot of first class passes so someone who graduates with a strong upper second-class pass might be at the top of their class. If there is any material on the back of your transcript that explains how grading works in your university, make sure to include that in your application as well.
4. Begin your search for funding as early as you can
The majority of the funding in the University is automatic eligibility. This means that once you submit your application, you will automatically be considered for these scholarships – you don’t have to submit a separate application for these.
There are other scholarships that you do need to apply for separately. And you can find these by using the University’s funding search tool. Some scholarships have very early deadlines and may even close before the end of the University’s admissions cycle.
Do your research, take note of all the scholarships that you’re eligible for and prepare to make a strong application before the deadline.
5. Colleges
It’s worth taking some time to think about the college that you want to be in. Although colleges have a lot in common, there is some variation in things like where you can live, whether the college has funds available for fieldwork or has a gym onsite. Think about what you need or want as part of your Oxford experience and pick the college that would work best for you.
And mostly importantly, do not hold yourself back from applying! As our panellist Tatenda Magestsi (Zimbabwe, Masters in Public Policy & MSc African Studies alumni) said:
“Do not self-disqualify. By not applying you are self-disqualifying. Just go for it and put your best into it.”
Find out more about the collegiate system and more details about the application process by watching the full Q&A on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/uzJqLzoFJQo
AfOx Visiting Fellow Prof Caesar Atuire has been appointed as one of 20 experts selected from around the world to be a member of the WHO ACT Accelerator Ethics Working Group on Access to COVID-19 Tools .
The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed inequalities and vulnerabilities among and within nations. The WHO Ethics Working Group will examine the criteria for vaccine acquisition and distribution between nations and offer recommendations for priority setting of vaccination programmes within member countries.
Dr. Caesar Atuire, a Ghanaian philosopher was awarded an AfOx Visiting Fellowship hosted at All Souls College in 2018. Following his successful Fellowship, he was invited back as an All Souls Visiting Fellow to spend 6 months in Oxford in 2020.
Caesar Atuire started studying for a degree in Engineering in 1986. During this period, Caesar realised that he was more interested in the ‘why’ rather than the ‘how’. For him, philosophy became a way to understand the why of things and the reason behind them.
Caesar is now a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana, where he teaches students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His research interests include bioethics, politics of development in Africa and personhood in philosophy.
Talking about why he chose to teach and study philosophy, Caesar explains
“It is the power of an idea. It excites me to see how ideas evolve from being concepts in our head, to action, which then transform lives. Philosophy gives us the capacity to think critically and find organic and constructive solutions to problems at a theoretical level and then assimilate thought to perception.”
Caesar Atuire
In 2018, Caesar visited Oxford for 6 weeks as an AfOx Visiting Fellow. He worked in collaboration with colleagues in the Department of Psychiatry and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities to study attitudes that inform the way people perceive mental health in West Africa.
During the course of the Fellowship Caesar created a culturally attuned framework of bioethical concepts to address complex challenges facing the understanding and treatment of people with mental disorders in Ghana.
Caesar is particularly passionate about exploring contextbased solutions to problems and translating his research into results.
“We cannot always import solutions from the western world. We need to go back into African philosophy. However, the idea of going back to African philosophy is not about closing in on ourselves but offering an African voice to the global discourse.”
Caesar Atuire
After completing the AfOx Fellowship in 2018, he published a book titled ‘Bioethics in Africa’. The book offers diverse theoretical and practical perspectives on bioethical challenges that are common in sub-Saharan Africa. In an effort to translate his ideas to action, he is now working on a programme to train healthcare workers in bioethics.
Caesar also extends his principal of finding context-based solutions to Amicus Onlus, a NGO that he founded in the year 2003. Amicus Onlus engages with communities across Ghana to conduct needs analysis to identify solutions to problems faced by young people. Amicus Onlus engages with about 30,000 people across Ghana every year, working on projects such as skill training for youth, vocation training for single mothers and medical outreach programmes.
“Africa is a continent of young people. If we are able to empower these young persons, then we can look forward to a bright future. The empowerment I would like to contribute is intellectual, cultural and moral- hence my commitment to academic life.
On August 6, Director of the African Academy of Sciences, Prof Tom Kariuki presented the at third AfOx digital insaka. Tom’s talk highlighted how research is being prioritised in Africa to inspire leadership, mobilise funding and facilitate equitable collaborations.
At independence, sixty years ago, many African researchers and governments focused on overcoming three challenges: illiteracy, diseases, and poverty. Today, these challenges are the driving force behind scientific and technological innovations on the continent.
Established 35 years ago, the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is a pan African not-for-profit organisation whose vision is to see transformed lives on the African continent through science. In 2015, AAS launched a new platform- the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) to promote the brightest minds in Africa, foster scientific excellence, inspire research leadership and accelerate innovation. This platform applies a transformative agenda to shift the gravity of science in Africa through resource mobilisation, leadership development, R&D infrastructure and strengthening the science ecosystem supported by equitable global partnerships.
African Academy of Sciences
Tom highlighted a few of AESA’s achievements:
Scientific quality and productivity
Africa currently accounts for less than 1% of the world’s research output (Africa is home to 17% of the global population). Since 2015, AESA has created over 15 programmes, which are designed to build R&D infrastructure, provide postdoctoral fellowships, spur innovation and entrepreneurship and support scientific publishing, science communication and public engagement. Its flagship programme, the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS) Africa programme supports world-class research, the training of future generations of scientists and has resulted in the publication of over 1200 papers and policy briefs.
“The DELTAS Africa initiative is likely to be one of the most impactful efforts ever in terms of African research production, numbers and quality of African trainees, and strengthening of African institutions, particularly with respect to knowledge translation and community and public engagement”
Supporting young African scientists and women in science
Thumbi Ndungu, DELTAS Africa health science leader
2. Supporting young African scientists and women in science
AESA programmes bring together a critical mass of scientists and emerging leaders, to develop locally relevant and high-quality research to impact health science, policy and practice in Africa. These programmes have recruited over 2500 researchers from across the continent and have ensured 50/50 gender parity.
3. Promoting intra-Africa collaborations
AESA encourages African researchers from across the continent to work together to solve common challenges. Through its programmes, AESA has recruited over 2000 young scientists from 100 universities across 50 African countries, creating bespoke models to ensure the inclusion of disadvantaged countries and institutions.
African Academy of Sciences
4. Creating science-based high value jobs in Africa
Through their programmes, AAS and AESA have created thousands of high value jobs across the continent. Jobs have been created across the science sector as leaders, post-docs, students and administrators. AAS is also developing global strategic partnerships with the private sector to create opportunities for African scientists in biotech and biopharma companies.
5. Strengthening research systems
Through policy recommendations on open science and financial governance, the AAS is strengthening research systems across the continent. The organisation is engaging with African businesses and national governments to provide financial resources to accelerate research-based education in Africa and increase research capacity so that African problems can be solved by Africans on the continent.
Six researchers from Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Liberia have been awarded the 2020-21 Senior AfOx Visiting Fellowships. Their proposed areas of study cover a range of disciplines: philosophy, history, neuroimaging, astrophysics, public health and research ethics.
Built on the success of the AfOx Visiting Fellows Programme, the Senior AfOx Visiting Fellowships are designed to enable accomplished African researchers to spend up to three academic terms in Oxford to share their expertise broadly with researchers based in Oxford and build broad long-term collaborations between their home institutions and the University of Oxford.
We received over 125 high-quality applications from across the continent, which led to a very competitive multi-stage review and interview process. During their time in Oxford, the Senior AfOx Fellows will work in collaboration with Oxford researchers to advance their work.
Find out more about the Senior AfOx Visiting Fellows below.
Boutheina Kerkeni, Professor, ISAMM Université la Manouba, Tunisia
Project: Combined Quantum chemical and Kinetics Investigations of H2 formation on Molecular Clusters for Astrochemical Interest
Astrochemists have struggled to explain the formation of molecules in a highly dilute environment such as the interstellar medium (ISM). Understanding the chemistry of the interstellar medium can enrich our understanding of the universe and may help to reveal the origin of life. During this Fellowship, Boutheina will investigate several icy grain models mainly in the form of nanoclusters, with varying composition and sizes using molecular dynamics and sophisticated quantum chemistry tools.
Aim: The goal of this project is to derive fundamental and molecule specific parameters, like IR spectra (to compare o Observations), reaction rates and diffusion barriers. These can then be included in astrochemical models which simulate ice evolution and complexity over realistic typical timescales.
Oxford Collaboration: Dimitra Rigopoulou, Department of Physics
Boutheina Kerkeni | ISAMM Université la Manouba,Tunisia
Professor, Department of Physics
Oxford Collaboration: Dimitra Rigopoulou, Department of Physics
Kalpana Hiralal, Professor, University of Kwazulu –Natal, South Africa
Project: The struggle for gender equality in South Africa’s Road to Democracy
During her Fellowship, Kalpana will critically examine women’s struggles for gender equality in South Africa and the role women played in challenging colonial and apartheid governments and how those historical origins affected their position in the post-apartheid state. Kalpana’s research argues that during the liberation movement, gender and women’s issues were relegated to the periphery in support of nationalistic goals.
Aim: Kalpana’s research will provide a better understanding of how gender issues were addressed in post nationalistic states, particularly in South Africa. Through publications and by engaging with academics and policy makers, she aims to inform policy, and work with the civic society and youth towards a progressive non-sexist society.
Oxford collaboration: Julia Viebach, African Studies Centre
Kalpana Hiralal | University of Kwazulu –Natal
Professor, Department of History
Oxford Collaboration: Julia Viebach, African Studies Centre
Stephen B. Kennedy, Senior Researcher, University of Liberia, Liberia
Project: Strengthen Research Ethics Committees in Liberia for Genomic Studies
The unprecedented Ebola outbreak, in December 2013 led to an exponential increase in clinical trials in Liberia with complex laboratory procedures for studying human biological samples such as blood and saliva. This has created sub-regional challenges for the design and implementation of complex study protocols to investigate experimental products for diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. During the Fellowship, Stephen Kennedy, will address these challenges and directly contribute to strengthening Liberia’s research ethics evaluation processes.
Aim: The proposed study has the potential to strengthen the ethics platform and research environment in the country and provide guidance to the Ministry of Health to inform programs and policies for the governance of biobanking and genomic research.
Oxford Collaboration: Michael Parker & Patricia Kignori, Ethox Centre
Stephen Kennedy |University of Liberia, Liberia
Senior Researcher, UL-PIRE Africa Center & Senior Scientist, Partnership for Research on Ebola Vaccine
Oxford Collaboration: Michael Parker & Patricia Kignori, Ethox Centre
Godwin Inalegwu Ogbole, Associate Professor, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Project: Enhancing clinical decisions that improve outcomes in Africans with stroke and dementia using advanced MRI techniques
Stroke is a major cause of physical and mental disability in Africa, and its management remains a growing problem. Stroke survivors develop significant disability such as post stroke dementia, which affects up to a third of stroke survivors, and progressively worsens despite treatments. In Nigeria, Godwin is working to find effective tools to manage complications caused by stroke. He will investigate imaging modalities including Arterial Spin Labelling with a view to developing capacity for evaluation of cognitive impairments in African stroke survivors.
Aim: This fellowship will enable translation of knowledge between Oxford and Nigeria and other parts of Africa. It will contribute to understanding the distinct patterns of neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases in black Africans.
Oxford Collaboration: Peter Jezzard, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
Godwin Inalegwu Ogbole | Univeristy of Ibadan, Nigeria
Associate Professor, Department of Radiology
Oxford Collaboration: Peter Jezzard, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
Workineh Kelbessa Golga, Professor, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Project: Water ethics and its contribution to sustainable water resources management
Water is essential for all forms of life and the ecological conditions that sustain them. However, 785 million people lack access to improved drinking water sources and 2 billion people lack adequate sanitation. Water injustices such as dumping of hazardous wastes into streams, rivers and oceans and unilateral exploitation of international transboundary rivers exacerbate the challenge. While there is extensive work on technical, economic and political approaches to water management, the ethical dimensions of water governance have not received sufficient attention.
Aim: During his Fellowship, Workineh will examine the role of indigenous water ethics in addressing the current water crisis in Africa. He will explore different ethical principles (indigenous and modern) that can play an important role in the management of water resources.
Oxford Collaboration: Roger Crisp, Faculty of Philosophy
Oxford Collaboration: Roger Crisp, Faculty of Philosophy
Laetitia Charmaine Rispel, Professor, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and Chair, South African Research Chairs Initiative
Project: Research on the Health workforce
A target of SDG 3 is to achieve ‘universal health coverage for all’. An adequately skilled, productive and well-motivated health workforce is essential to achieve this target. Laetitia Rispel will draw data from the WiSDOM (Wits longitudinal Study to Determine the Operation of the labour Market among its health professional graduates) cohort study to generate new knowledge on the career choices and job location decisions of health professionals in South Africa. She will also work on a book project on the nursing crisis in South Africa that uses a historical perspective to shed light on the seemingly dysfunctional and constantly changing health system.
Aim: During the Senior Fellowship, Laetitia will publish the findings of the WISDOM study with the aim of contributing to the development and implementation of national health workforce policies in South Africa. She will complete several chapters of a book on nursing in South Africa during her fellowship.
Oxford Collaboration: Rebecca Surender, Department of Social Policy and Intervention
Laetitia Rispel |University of the Witwatersrand and Chair, South African Research Chairs Initiative, South Africa
Professor, School of Public Health
Oxford collaboration: Rebecca Surender, Department of Social Policy and Intervention
The internet has become an integral part of our lives, which
has only intensified during these times of self-isolation and social
distancing. Terrens Muradzikwa, a digital entrepreneur from Zimbabwe and an MBA
student at Said Business School on the Rhodes scholarship, talks to us
about the impact of digital technologies in Africa and the creation of the Zimbabwe
Covid-19 Support Hub.
We live in a time, which some call the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, a period that is transforming our lives, reshaping the economy and
changing the social and cultural contexts in which we live. Terrens interest in
the role of the internet and digital
technologies in society and economics, led him to Oxford to study for a
MSc in Social Science Internet at the Oxford
Internet Institute combined with a MBA from the Said Business School (through
the Oxford 1+1 MBA).
“I believe that digital technologies, when carefully managed, can improve people’s economic lives. For example, they can increase accessibility of financial services to millions of people without formal banking facilities and also facilitate flow of information between small-scale businesses, thereby increasing trade and access to markets.”
-Terrens Muradzikwa
Terrens’ research
included regulation of the mobile money industry in Kenya, impact of internet
access and lack thereof in the developing world, and the effects of digital
technologies on economic development. Now as an MBA student, he is exploring
the application of his research in the business and finance world.
Concerned about the spread
of fake news about Covd-19 in Zimbabwe and limited access to reliable
information about the virus, Terrens co-initiated the Zimbabwe
Covid-19 Support Hub with
four more students in Oxford and other Zimbabweans based in the country,
Botswana, Germany and the UK. The website aims to provide accurate information
and facts about the virus from government agencies, the WHO, and doctors. The
information is translated to threelocal languages to support public
awareness. The website has reached over 200,000 people in Zimbabwe and bought
together 30 volunteers across the world, working virtually to support and
amplify local efforts to respond to Covid-19 by sharing information, contacts,
and by pooling in one place community fund-raising efforts.
“I urge everyone to contribute in ways they are comfortable with. This can be checking on fellow students and work colleagues, sharing tips with family and friends, providing economic support for those severely impacted by the lockdowns and carrying out important medical research. We will get through this together.”
This month, we awarded the 200th Travel Grant since our establishment in 2016. The AfOx Travel Grants represent a breadth of emerging research collaborations between researchers based in African institutions and the University of Oxford.
Initiated with the aim of supporting new collaborations between researchers based in African institutions and the University of Oxford, the AfOx Travel Grants are open to all disciplines, all year round. They allow researchers to meet in either Oxford or an African institution to work together on a collaborative project.
The AfOx Travel Grants were initiated in August 2016. One of the first Grants was awarded to facilitate a collaboration between the Epilepsy Support Foundation in Zimbabwe and the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford.
“The AfOx Travel Grant has quite literally, changed the entire focus of the Oxford Epilepsy Research Group. It contributed significantly to our being awarded a £4.9 million grant from NIHR to study epilepsy in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Taurai Kadzviti, National Epilepsy Foundation, Zimbabwe and Arjune Sen and Sloan Mahone, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford
Since then, we have awarded 200 Travel Grants that have led to research collaborations between 114 African institutions from 32 countries and 70 Oxford based departments.
“I came here to build a new bridge between my home institution in Egypt & the University of Oxford for cutting-edge research in studying genetics and cancer cells.”
Haitham Shaban, National Research Centre Egypt
Such collaborations have facilitated new breakthroughs in the fields of medical sciences, big data engineering and astrophysics, conserving environments and ecosystems, archaeology, and preservation of ancient languages amongst other research areas.
“The AfOx travel scheme is such a valuable way of bringing together researchers to explore cross-disciplinary work together.”
Maureen Kelley, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford
“The travel grant provided me access to cutting-edge academic research, resources and literature that I may not have had access to otherwise.”
Gill Black, Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation, South Africa
This week we caught up with Dr Mona Ibrahim. A medical Doctor from Sudan, Mona has just started her new role as a Research Officer at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford University after the successful completion of the Masters in International Health and Tropical Medicine.
Mona, who describes herself as “a happy human, with a touch
of sarcasm”, gives us a snippet of her life in Oxford, the differences in the
learning cultures and her vision in ensuring universal health coverage is a
reality in Sudan.
Mona completed her medical degree from the University of
Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. As part of
her training, she took up a life-changing internship at the Um-Dawanban
hospital in the outskirts of Khartoum.
The Um-Dawanban hospital covers the town of Um-Dawanban along with four villages in the area, providing medical facilities for a population of 500,000 people. A community with distinctive features from the other predominantly inhibits each village. Mona experienced a beautiful diversity of cultures, traditions and beliefs within the simple building of the Um-Dawanban hospital.
Mona treated patients with nutrient deficiencies, common infections and some who had injuries from road accidents. As
“As a doctor in that region, it was interesting to see how such a diverse set of people had binding commonalities. Everyday at sunset, all the hospital staff- from cleaners to financial managers would come together at the doctor’s office and have coffee and tea together. Those were my favourite moments; it felt like we were family”
However, one thing that stood out for Mona was the clear
discrepancies between what she had studied and what she was observing at work.
“As students, we were taught the most idealised version of Medicine. We became very familiar with books that highlighted the latest evidence-based management guidelines. However, with little to no management skills at the hospital, the official international guidelines were nothing but a pretty poster on the wall.”
The gap between the ideal and the reality became Mona’s
career-focus and she decided to apply for the MSc in International Health and
Tropical Medicine in Oxford.
The MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine is a full-time one-year course that explores a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to health in resource-limited contexts. The aim of the course is to develop an understanding of the major global health problems in resource-limited settings and study potential solutions from different disciplinary perspectives such as the ethics, social determinants of health, mathematical modelling and economical evaluations.
The diverse student network of the course, leadership and communications training provided and international placements offered were particularly attractive to Mona.
Moving to Oxford for her graduate studies was an adventure in itself for Mona. It was the first time she was living by herself amongst other lifestyle changes. The student-led learning and emphasis on critical appraisals was quite different from her previous training, and the college system was both novel and confusing. One of her toughest challenges to overcome in Oxford was the need the match the high expectations and to fit in.
However soon Mona learned to question things like people’s
positions, contextual factors and even her own opinions and inherent biases.
She learned to embrace her quirky self and to keep pushing to become a better
version of herself.
“The knowledge I’ve learnt was just one of many benefits I’ve gained from this course. It taught me to consider the depth of underlying issues that surround health problems. My colleagues came from all around the world and from a range of career backgrounds- it was fascinating to hear their perspectives and see how they solves problems differently. The diversity was beautiful. This environment encouraged me to think at a larger scale, instead of simply seeing a problem through my medical scope”
Since completing her degree, Mona has started working as a
Research Officer for the UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s
Adolescents (Accelerate) Hub embedded in the Department of Social Policy and
Intervention at Oxford University. Supported by the Global Challenges Research
Fund, the aim of the Adolescent’s Hub is to improve outcomes for 20 million
adolescents in 34 countries across Africa. Mona is responsible for the Hub’s
engagement with the United Nations Development Program to ensure that policy
makers consider the evidence provided by the Hub.
“I believe in my country and in its potential. Through the next few years I aim to become qualified enough to work in health policy. I would like to promote the strategies encouraging universal health coverage and health-in-all policies. I know that Sudan will grow, prosper and become a great nation- I hope to be a part of that.”
We met with Dr Sulaiman Jalloh at the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) office in Oxford. A medical doctor from Sierra Leone, Sulaiman played a critical role in saving lives and crises management during the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
Since then he has successfully completed the MSc International Health & Tropical Medicine from the University of Oxford and is currently working at IDDO as a Research Intern. Sulaiman tells us about his experience of treating Ebola patients and his ambitions of developing effective public health policies in the future.
Growing up in an environment where it was difficult to access basic facilities such as safe water and healthcare, shaped his ambitions to become a medical doctor. He completed his medical training from the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences at the University of Sierra Leone. The college did not have a central campus, and Sulaiman had to travel to three different hospitals across Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to attend classes.
After graduating with his medical degree, Sulaiman started working at the Ola During Children’s Hospital located in the Freetown. Ola During Children’s Hospital is the largest paediatric hospital in Sierra Leone with the highest caseload of patients (around 300 a day) in the country.
The outbreak in 2014 was unprecedented and it was the first time that Sierra Leone was experiencing an Ebola epidemic. In 2014, Sierra Leone had only recently emerged from years of civil war and unrest that left basic health infrastructures severely damaged. Weak road systems, transportation services and telecommunications were contributing factors towards the rapid spread of the disease.
During outbreak, Sulaiman was one of the very few doctors in Sierra Leone trained for an Ebola outbreak response in the country.
Sulaiman remembers the first confirmed positive case at the hospital.
”We were treating a child for what we thought was malaria. Few days later, an Ebola test for the child came back positive. It was a terrible news; I remember feeling so depressed. This incident led to the shutdown of the hospital as almost all the doctors and nurses working in the hospital were exposed. I was worried about myself, other staff, and other children that we could not treat because of closure of the hospital.”
When the hospital reopened, Sulaiman was appointed as the Clinical Lead of the ‘holding centre’ at the hospital. The holding centre was a facility where patients who presented with Ebola symptoms were first admitted. Sulaiman was working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. He was responsible for treating patients in the red zone (confirmed Ebola cases) and supervising more than 60 frontline staff that included doctors, nurses, and other auxiliary medical staff.
Supervising frontline staff also meant managing their fears, encouraging them and counselling them. Everyone interacting with patients was at risk of being infected with the disease. At one point, a doctor from the same hospital was infected and eventually passed away. This affected the morale and zeal of other colleagues and Sulaiman had to appear strong and encourage others to ‘keep up the fight’. Sulaiman took on these responsibilities being fully aware that every second could be his last. According to sources, health workers were 21–32 times more likely to be infected with Ebola than the general adult population. An unprecedented number of health workers were infected, with an estimated 221 deaths, which is an about 21% of the overall health work force in Sierra Leone (NCBI, 2019).
“I saw many colleagues and friends who got infected and died, I saw an entire family being wiped out. There was no wish or prayer I could make than the deadly outbreak to come to an end.”
As the caseload increased, Sulaiman started doing 24-hour shifts every two days. The hospital was understaffed, with each doctor attending to 9 patients at any given time.
While the international community followed the deadly outbreak on the news, Sulaiman describes the ground reality as ‘very scary and challenging’.
“It became very chaotic and scary, the protocol is very different and the work quickly becomes very hectic. You have to be in full Personal Protective Equipment while treating patients. There was an occasion when the googles on my face became foggy and I could not see anything. Sometimes, I drowned in my own sweat when taking off the PPE and these were the very risky situations. ”
Personal Protective Equipment consists of thick protective yellow impermeable suits, rubber boots and respirator masks, two pairs of rubber gloves, thick goggles and rubber full-length aprons to protect doctors from the disease. Being dressed in PPE can get extremely hot in a warm, humid climate, with dehydration and fainting from heat exhaustions being ever-present dangers.
According to a statement made by WHO, total number of 8,704 people were infected and 3,589 people died of Ebola in Sierra Leone. During the Ebola outbreak, Sulaiman and his colleagues worked with the government, local and international NGOs, health partners and other doctors to develop a coordinated response to the outbreak that included treatment procedures.
Reflecting back on his experience, Sulaiman identifies things that could have been done differently to manage the outbreak.
“Our government and the international community were very slow in responding to the outbreak. Just one Ebola case is enough to declare an outbreak and instigate a response.”
Working with different partners, led Sulaiman to realise that many health challenges in Sierra Leone can be solved through a public health approach, rather than individual patient care. This fuelled his passion for research.
In the 2018, Sulaiman came to Oxford to study the MSc International Health and Tropical Medicine course based in the Nuffield Department of Medicine. He was one of the eight Sierra Leoneans awarded the Chevening Scholarship in 2018. The course aims to strengthen a student’s knowledge and understanding of health challenges in resource-limited settings. The course also helped Sulaiman develop his communication and leadership skills.
Now working at IDDO, Sulaiman hopes to prioritise research on treatment and increase the focus on social aspects of Ebola. He is currently developing a system for health researchers to report symptoms and outcomes of patients with emerging infections in a standardised way. This will allow clear characterisation of the progression of the disease and is important to inform the creation of core, defined outcomes for future research.
Talking about his future ambitions, Sulaiman says
“My ambition is to work in a research institute where I can contribute to the development of more effective policies and practices. I believe the International Health & Tropical Medicine course has equipped me with skills that could enable me contribute to changes that would help in transforming my country’s health system”
