{"id":75125,"date":"2015-10-28T15:40:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T19:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=75125"},"modified":"2020-09-17T15:31:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T19:31:02","slug":"field-experience-in-the-shadow-of-kilimanjaro","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2015\/field-experience-in-the-shadow-of-kilimanjaro\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Experience in the Shadow of Kilimanjaro"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"bu-slideshow-container kenya-practicum autoplay\" id=\"bu-slideshow-container-75132\" data-slideshow-name=\"kenya-practicum\" data-slideshow-delay=\"5000\" style=\"width: auto; \"><div class='slideshow-loader active'><div class='loader-animation'><\/div><p>loading slideshow...<\/p><\/div><div class=\"bu-slideshow-slides\"><ul class=\"bu-slideshow transition-slide\" id=\"bu-slideshow-75132\"><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_0\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Wedding-1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The program participants attended a traditional Maasai wedding. Here, three local women wait for the celebration to begin. Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_1\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Wedding-3a-.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The bride (center) and Kinyako the groom (second from right). Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_2\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Wedding-4a.png\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Wedding guests perform the \u201cjumping dance,\u201d adumu. Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_3\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Chen-21.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Chenzhe Cao (\u201916) and friend at the wedding. Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_4\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/William-Macleod-with-Kinyako-the-groom.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Global Health Assistant Professor William MacLeod (right) with the groom, Kinyako (center). Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_5\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Kilimanjaro-2a-credit-Chen.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The entire practicum took place within sight of Mount Kilimanjaro, dominating the horizon just over the border in Tanzania. Credit Chenzhe Cao (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_6\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Health-Centre-1a-credit-Chen.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The students were based at Kimana Health Centre, monitoring and evaluating health facilities throughout Southern Kajiado Sub-County. Credit Chenzhe Cao (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_7\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Elephants-1a.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The participants went on a safari in Amboseli National Park. Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_8\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Elephant-2a.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">\u201cThere would be large herds of elephants blocking the only road to the clinic\u201d near Amboseli National Park, Cao says. Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_9\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Presidential-Visit-1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The practicum also coincided with a visit from President Uhuru Kenyatta. Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-75132_10\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-right\"><img src=\"\/sph\/files\/2015\/10\/Presidential-Visit-21.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-right\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">The Kenyan president\u2019s visit drew huge crowds of Maasai and other local people. Credit Jillian Baker (\u201916).<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"bu-slideshow-navigation-container\"><ul class=\"bu-slideshow-navigation nav-icon\" id=\"bu-slideshow-nav-75132\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-1\" class=\" active\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>1<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-2\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>2<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-3\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>3<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-4\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>4<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-5\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>5<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-6\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>6<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-7\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>7<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-8\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>8<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-9\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>9<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-10\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>10<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-11\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>11<\/span><\/a><\/li> <\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">October 28, 2015<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<p>In Kenya\u2019s Southern Kajiado sub-county, where Mount Kilimanjaro dominates the horizon from across the border in Tanzania, health facilities face a range of challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Like elephants.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe clinic staff said that sometimes there would be large herds of elephants blocking the only road to the clinic\u201d near the Amboseli National Park, says MPH student Chenzhe Cao. \u201cYou don&#8217;t want to be anywhere near these herds, so people sometimes physically cannot get to health facilities even if they need it desperately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cao was one of&nbsp;26 students who spent five weeks monitoring and evaluating the Community Health Worker Program of the Kenyan Ministry of Health\u2019s Community Health Strategy as part of&nbsp;last summer\u2019s Kenya Field Practicum in Public Health and Environment. Led by Global Health Assistant Professors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/william-macleod\/\">William MacLeod<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/jennifer-beard\/\">Jennifer Beard<\/a>&nbsp;and alumna Sriya Srikrishnan (\u201915), the practicum was supported by Santander Universities Kenya Program Scholarship.<\/p>\n<p>Some Kenyan facilities are successfully keeping records and providing healthcare in the region, Cao explains, but most of the facilities need more funding, training, and staff.&nbsp;Cao\u2019s group focused on the Health Management Information System (HMIS) for the sub-county\u2014a challenge when other factors are still lacking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t have a system if you can\u2019t run a facility, if you don\u2019t have the power to run it, and no running water,\u201d Cao says. \u201cWhen they do have that, there are staffing issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The researchers recommended the ministry hire formally trained records officers, adopt computer-based record systems (only 14.3 percent of the facilities had them), and increase operational budgets.<\/p>\n<p>The practicum &#8220;allowed me to gain skills and gain insight into what it\u2019s really like, especially in developing, low-resource settings, to incorporate technology,\u201d Cao says. Other activities in the five weeks\u2014attending a Maasai wedding, seeing those road-blocking elephants in the Amboseli National Park, and a visit from Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta\u2014sweetened the deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s one of those experiences where first you ask yourself, \u2018What am I getting myself into?\u2019\u201d Cao adds, \u201cbut then you just get so much out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"mailto:msamu@bu.edu\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michelle Samuels<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Information about the 2016 Field Practicum in Public Health and Environment&nbsp;will be available in December.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MPH student Chenzhe Cao evaluated healthcare management information systems as part of Kenya Field Practicum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10989,"featured_media":75315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2044,2265,1900,1265,1899,1472],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3528,3532,3538],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[460,365],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/75125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10989"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75125"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/75125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175429,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/75125\/revisions\/175429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75125"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=75125"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=75125"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=75125"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=75125"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=75125"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=75125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}