Utano Public Health Chats

Episode 17 - Interview with Soline Mugeni

In this episode we hear from Mrs. Soline Mugeni from Rwanda. 
Mrs. Mugeni holds a BSc in Microbiology and an MSc. in Community Health.She has 10+ years experience working in the health sector with INGOs and supporting governments in multiple areas such as community health, human resources for health, health financing, and most recently immunization. She is passionate about serving communities and making an impact.

Episode 16-Interview with Dr. Nkechi Olalere

Check out our conversation with Dr. Nkechi Olalere , the Special Advisor on Health Economics to the Honorable Minister of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone on her career journey.Dr. Nkechi has over 17 years’ experience in health insurance implementation, spanning private, public and development sectors. She is also passionate about digital health, sustainability of country health systems and strategic purchasing, especially provider payment reforms, several of which she led, successfully, in the private health insurance space.She recently served as the Executive Director of Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) and the chair of Africa Union’s Tracker sub-committee tasked with developing indicators and measures of progress for ‘More Health for the Money’.She is the chair of the Rapid Cycle Monitoring sub-group of Global Financing Facility’s Results Advisory Group.

Episode 15 - Interview with Dr. Godfrey Musuka

In this episode we hear from Dr. Godfrey Musuka, an international Public and Evaluation Consultant, HIV/AIDS M&E and public health expert with over 25 years of experience.
We talked about:
Who is Dr Musuka? His background and how ended up working in public health.
Countries and areas he has worked in
Key career experiences that shaped his expertise
How many years’ experience does he have in the field?
What has changed and what has stayed the same?
What does Dr. Musuka call himself?
How did Dr Musuka end up studying Veterinary medicine? And how did he end up pivoting into public health more specifically?
A run through of Dr. Musuka’s key career experiences, where they led him, and what he worked on
Does he find that all his experiences and trainings have connected or intersected over time?
Was One Health a thing back in the day?
What was his approach for the different opportunities in his career? Did he plan it out?
The importance of being open and being willing to try new projects and challenges (even if you fail!)
What is Dr. Musuka working on now? -Highlights of current and recently completed projects
Working with different stakeholders at different levels as your career grows
What working with and in different countries looks like and key things to keep in mind to ensure success
Different key people Dr. Musuka has worked with that have been influential and key in his growth and development
Always reach out and ask questions so you can listen and learn
The importance of relationships and having people who can hold you accountable
Different people can help you in your career and that includes your family and your children
Another BRTI guest on the show! Making the connection
How many degrees does Dr Musuka have?
The importance of continual learning and what that looks like for Dr Musuka
Public health can have people from different areas and backgrounds in training and still eg Accountants and Economists
How does Dr Musuka define Public Health?
Public health as a broad, inclusive and evolving field
Key challenges and issues that Dr Musuka has seen in the field with all his experiences
Words of wisdom to young people out there regarding career success

Episode 14 - Interview with Dr. Constancia Mavodza

Check out our season finale with Dr. Constancia Mavodza , a global and public health (process evaluation) practitioner, with experience in coordination, implementing and evaluating public health projects focusing on HIV/AIDS, SRHR, human resources for health, and AGYW.

Episode 13 - Interview with Chrystal Bonzo

Who is Chrystal and what does she do? 
What led Chrystal to the work she does today?
What Chrystal studied at the undergraduate level and how that led her to public health work 
Chrystal’s decision to pursue a Master of Public Health degree (MPH) and what she is focusing on in her program as she is pursuing it (Community Health)
Why Chrystal chose to do the online option for her MPH degree
A day in the life of Chrystal and her roles 
Dzidzo safepad initiative: what its about, what motivated it and what work goes into it 
Where funding and support for Dzidzo Safepad comes from 
Global Changemakers and their support for Dzidzo safepad-https://www.global-changemakers.net/ 
How long does each pad last?
How they target and decide which schools to work with 
What Chrystal enjoys and loves about working on Dzidzo Safepad 
Chrystal’s role as a Her Voice ambassador through the Global Fund
How Chrystal defines public health for herself 
Importance of equity and inclusivity in public health work and interventions
Word to the wise- advice for young people and people looking to enter the field
Resources and links:
*https://twitter.com/dzidzo_safepad 
*https://www.instagram.com/dzidzo_safepad/ 
* The ecocash number for Dzidzo Safepad donations is +263 772935923  

Episode 12 - Interview with Sandra Isano

In this episode our guest is Sandra Isano a Rwandan pharmacist, Lecturer, and Coordinator for Community Based Education in the Department of Community Health, and Social Medicine at the University of Global Health Equity with over 10 years of experience in the field. 
 
We talked about:
Sandra’s background and the work she does now and where she works 
Where Sandra’s journey in public health started, and what she wanted to be when she was younger
How working as a community pharmacist got her interested in patients beyond the treatment and medication they were coming to seek 
Her work as a fellow with Global Health Corps 
Rwanda’s High School pathway and where people choose to specialize 
Which one’s are the community pharmacies?
How and why pharmacies serve as a first line of care and health service delivery 
How capacity building at pharmacies can be an additional solution in provided primary care
How pharmacy, GHC fellowship and now her current work as a lecturer doing community community research all inspire and motivate her interests
What her current work at UGHE looks like and includes 
Teaching, research and community service 
Highlights of some of Sandra’s research projects and outcomes from them 
Sandra’s PhD project, and what motivated her to study for a PhD a focus on teen mothers at refugee camps in Rwanda, and what questions and information she will be looking into 
Sandra’s favorite thing about working in public health 
How Sandra defines public health 
Sandra’s least favorite thing about working in public health 
Words of advice to those starting out in the public health field and their careers
Love as a public health intervention and the social ecological model! 
https://ghcorps.org/ -Global Health Corps website
https://ughe.org/ -University of Global Health Equity website
https://ur.ac.rw/- University of Rwanda website 

Episode 11-Interview with Tatenda Diura

In this episode we chat with Tatenda Diura, a humanitarian worker from Zimbabwe. 
 
We discuss:
A brief introduction of her background, her current work and where she is based, and what she specializes in, in her work 
What is safeguarding and how long has she been doing this work? 
Her background and journey to public health , what she studied, her internship experience in Zimbabwe
How she found out about public health and how she ended up doing her Masters degree in public health 
What influenced her career decisions at every juncture in her journey
How she used resources available to her to search for jobs
How she navigated the catch 22 of jobs requiring experience and experience being gotten through jobs and got her first job after her Master’s degree
How she has leveraged changing organizations and roles to grow in her career
The principle of do not harm and how it is the cornerstone of safeguarding work in humanitarian settings
Examples of the kind of work she does in safeguarding
Behavior Change Communication and how her sociology degree is now relevant in her work 
What a survivor centered approach in humanitarian work is and what that looks like
The importance of understanding context in populations that we serve in public health 
How heavy humanitarian work can be at times 
What Tatenda’s likes the most about the work that she does 
What measures are in place in the humanitarian field to ensure that humanitarian workers maintain their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing 
Burnout in humanitarian work 
The risk of being desensitized doing the work and the importance of rest and unplugging between projects and assignments
The importance of empathy and mot sympathy while doing work 
What keeps Tatenda going in the field, even with high turnover rates
What does public health mean for Tatenda
Vulnerable populations that Tatenda works with and how that is defined
Words of wisdom 
How Tatenda has used LinkedIn to grow in her career

Episode 10-Interview with Dr. Chido Dziva Chikwari

In this episode we hear from  Dr. Chido Dziva Chikwari, an Epidemiologist from Zimbabwe about her work and career journey in public health for the past 9 years. 
We talked about:
Chido’s current roles and how long she has been doing health research work 
Chido’s background and career journey and how she ended up doing the work she does now
How she ended up doing an Master’s degree in Epidemiology and what influenced her choices 
The importance of career guidance and the right vocabulary in career decision making 
What is an epidemiologist and what do they do?- With examples 
The things she likes about working in Epidemiology and research 
How she has used her skills to pivot to different program areas over the years 
Her research project on increasing access and uptake of HIV testing for children in Zimbabwe that she conducted as part of her PhD 
How the findings from her research work became relevant when COVID-19 broke out  in 2019 
How we are going to make a movie on Chido’s Doctoral research 
What are Chido’s top favorite reasons she likes about working in public health research 
The value and importance of having a good community of people to work with 
What public health means to Chido 
For the good of everybody
What good for everyone includes and entails from access, universal health coverage, priority populations, COVID-19 global response 
The importance of meeting people where they are in public health interventions eg. COVID-19 vaccines and prevention 
Chido’s advice to young people and all people of all ages on career paths 
What Chido knows now about the field of public health that wishes she had known or understood earlier
Public Health is a lot of work?
Where is the money in Public health? Is there money in public health work?
Career advice and tips are relevant throughout the lifecourse 
Things change, career pivots happen, life happens
Check out  https://www.thruzim.org/  for all the research work  

Episode 9 - Interview with Joy Kamunyori

In this episode we hear from Joy Kamunyori, a digital health and project management professional from Kenya about her 14 year career assessing, developing and implementing public health IT systems in sub-Saharan African countries. 
We discussed:
Joy’s background what she studied and how she ended working in public health 
How her passion for education and development and skillset landed her in a public health role that started of her career
How she became interested in Computers  and eventually chose to study computer science 
What she likes and drew her to coding and computer science 
How mentorship played a significant role in her career and choices at many junctures 
Her experience pursuing graduate studies in Computer Science 
What her work looks like now, in scale and range and the kinds of problems she supports solving 
How she considers herself an interpreter in her work in digital health and what that looks like 
How her roles have changed as her career has progressed in the field 
The relationship between Public health, education and development 
How Digital Health as a field  and use of technology for health started, emerged and has now expanded to be integral in public health systems 
Challenges and key considerations for countries as they transition to having fully digital health information systems and how Joy has come across and been part of these conversations
What are Joy’s favorite things about doing her work 
What public health means to Joy 
Joy’s advice to a younger self 
Top 3 skills she recommends to work on in the field
 
 

Episode 8- Interview with Will Moyo

In this episode we talked with Will Moyo an Bioengineer from Zimbabwe. Will is the Engineering Innovation Design Studio Manager for Rice 360 Institute for Global Health Technologies.
We discussed:
Will’s background and the kind of work she does now
What is Bioengineering and what training she received to get there
What motivated her to pursue a career in Bioengineering 
Invention education and how its used at the Design studios where she works 
What are Design Studios and training offered there 
What Will does on a day to day basis in her role 
The different kind of funders who support their work 
The need for support and investment in inventions, innovation and education for long term success “Funding people to fail”
Challenges associated with innovation and global health technologies in an African context 
What is Will's favorite part of the work that she does 
The value of impactful work and seeing effort come to fruition
What public health means to Will 
Everything is Public Health!
Is Will Shuri from Black Panther??? 
The importance of medical devices and access in public health 
The Importance of investing in education for health so as to improve  health outcomes 
The need to train engineers and technical workforce practically so they know how to work with biomedical equipment in the real world 
Other African countries where the model of design studios are currently being implemented
Who makes a good Biomedical engineer?
What it takes and good skills to have in the field 
The different kind of stakeholders Will and her students get to work with 
Regulation and standardization for medical device design and invention in African countries
Challenges and frustrations from working in education and invention and innovative work in the global health technologies space
How their program was able to generate income for themselves by being innovative at the beginning of the pandemic 
What does Will know now, that she wishes she knew earlier
Words of Wisdom 
Resource plugs 
Tips of reaching out and getting opportunities in the field