Utano Public Health Chats
A podcast where people get to learn more about public health work in Africa and how to navigate their public health careers. Each episode features an in depth interview with a public health practitioner and/or researcher from an African country and/or working in African countries in public health. Conversation is about how they ended up working in public health, what they do at a high level in their current work, what they love about their field and career path and what words of wisdom they would like to share with the audience.
Episodes
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
This episode we heard from Dr. Itumeleng Ntatamala, an Occupational Medicine Specialist and Senior Lecturer in the Occupational Medicine Division in the School of Public Health at University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
We talked about:
Dr. Itumeleng’s background and his current roles
What drew him to medicine, public health and then occupational health
How his interests in clinical care influenced his interest to do public health work
Defining occupational health and occupation medicine and how they sit under public health
The aim of occupational health
What occupational health looks like and the different types of workers and professionals who work in it
Examples of the types of work dealt with in occupational health
How he splits his time between clinical work, public health work, research and teaching
The wide range of patients and medical issues that they see and the different work industries they work with in occupational medicine
Where Dr. Itumeleng finds the most joy and fulfillment in his work
The need for more people to be interested and work in Occupational health, in South Africa and beyond
COVID and its impact on occupational health
Different types of trainings that people can undergo to gain skills in and pivot to start working in occupational health
Why there is not as many people going into the field and being aware that the field of occupational health exists as a career path in public health
Challenges in limited opportunities for training in South Africa and in the region
How he defines public health and what public health means to him
Advice for anyone looking to go into medicine and/or public health
Following your passion and taking it one step at a time
Advice for those that might be interested specifically in pivoting into occupational health
Skills that he has found the most useful
Attending short courses in what you are interested
Reading more about occupational health eg :International Labor Organization ILO https://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm
Health & Safety Executive(HSE) https://www.hse.gov.uk/
National Institute of Occupational Health SA (NIOH) https://www.nioh.ac.za/#
and local National Occupational health bodies
Areas that connect to occupational health eg psychology or social work or physiotherapy
Can reach out about programs to him on Linked in or via email at for questions about the field and programs
Friday Jul 22, 2022
Friday Jul 22, 2022
In this episode with Dorcas Kareithi a clinical trials statistician from Kenya currently based in the UK we discussed:
Dorcas’s background and how her love for Math led her to study Applied Statistics
What she calls herself
Dorcas’s love for data, data puns and t shirts with them
All the key steps she took to end up working in health with her skillset
Difference between being a researcher and statistician
What influenced her interest in health from family to books she read growing up
How she ended up working in health after her Bachelor's degree and key steps she took to lead herself there
Mentorship and the role it has played in her career
Different types of mentors
Highlights from her current and previous work
What is her favorite thing about her work and working in public health
What she likes the least about working in public health
Ethics in public health research
Inequalities in healthcare access
The importance of government buy in and will to bridge research findings to policy and implementation
Importance of documenting failures in research
Her top 3 software recommendations
Words of wisdom especially to people looking to have careers in statistics
Her resource plugs:
Young African Statisticians (YASA): https://twitter.com/africanyas
Words that count: https://twitter.com/wordsafrica
RLadies Nairobi: https://twitter.com/rladiesnairobi
Friday Jul 08, 2022
Friday Jul 08, 2022
In this episode we talked with Siyabonga Ndwandwe, a computational health economist from Eswatini currently based in London about his to journey to working in Public health and what it has been like for him. In the episode we discussed:
What is computational health economics and what that entails
His background and motivation to study health economics and work in public health
Using an economic framework, economics principles and tools, to understand health care system and answer and solve health related problems
What type of health data is there, the different sources, who collects it and why?
Privacy , security and the need for regulation of using health data in the world of Big Data
Stakeholders in public health and how they are involved in the work
The kinds of questions being answered in the field of health economics and in Siya’s work
What a typical day, or typical week looks like in his current role
Highlights of different roles and projects that Siya has done in the different roles and countries he has worked in
What public health means to Siyabonga and how he defines it
The Public Health Elephant!
What he likes about Health Systems Research
Siya’s favorite things about working in public health
A little bit of ethics and philosophy of economics in health systems using COVID as an example
Challenges that come with working with data depending on the context
The difference between learning how to work and learning the work
Word to the wise
Friday Jun 24, 2022
Friday Jun 24, 2022
In this episode we chat with Nang’andu, a health promotion specialist from Zambia about her 11 year career in public health.
We discussed:
How Nana started her career in public health and what motivated her to focus on health in development
Secondary prevention in Cervical cancer
All things Cervical cancer
What work she currently does and what that looks like on a typical day/week
Monitoring and Evaluation in public health programs
It's not just M&E
Nana’s multi year experience and the different amazing work and areas she has worked in
Digitalization of M&E and how Nana has taken it in stride
What digital applications and platforms Nana uses in her work
How her role requires her to be flexible, adaptable and translate between different kinds of experts
How she has continued to learn new skills and dedicated time to that to keep up to date with the work
The importance of prioritizing the population as a receiver of information and evidence generated in public health work
Data for decision making - Decisions in health begin at the individual’s health
Beyond data collection and M&E in public health work
Data as an empowerment tool for people
Nana’s definition of public health and what it means and looks like for her
There is so much work to do!
Frustrations and challenges working in public health
What is Nana’s favourite thing about working in public health
What keeps Nana working in public health?
Public Health saves lives
Skills that Nana has found useful in public health
Top things that Nana recommends investing in while working in public health
The value of relationships in public health work
What she does when she feels demotivated in her work or in a slump
The value of humanities and social sciences in public health with examples from a reproductive health program that Nana worked in
The value of innovation in public health
Who are we doing public health work for?
Public health interventions need to be inclusive and not discriminatory
Tips and words of wisdom to young people
Challenges in career guidance and learning how to explore
Visible women Zambia and mentorship for young women and girls
Thursday Jun 09, 2022
Thursday Jun 09, 2022
In this episode we chat with Temitope Ben-Ajepe, a pharmacist and public health consultant from Nigeria.
We discussed:
Her pharmacy background and how she ended up studying pharmacy
Her motivations to explore regulatory work and work at a macro level
Details of different internship and placement experiences, what she enjoyed and what she learnt there
Overview of Pharmacy training Nigeria and the national requirements for licensing
The different types of pharmacy practice and the different levels
How her many internship experiences influenced and motivated her to want “more”
What more looks like for Temitope in public health
Some research projects she has worked on
The value of data in health care work
Research and ability to generate evidence that makes an impact in
The power of trying out different things in your career and being open to different experiences
Importance of mentors and aligning with mentors that focus on what you are interested in
Skills and training that she has found valuable in her current work form Pharmacy school and beyond
Wednesday May 25, 2022
Wednesday May 25, 2022
In this episode we talk with Dr. Nikki Kay a specialist Public Health physician currently based at the Duke-NUS Medical School Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE) and SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute (SDGHI) in Singapore.
We discussed:
Her 16 year career in public health medicine starting from her background and what motivated her to want to work in public health
Her experience taking care of family during the peak of the AIDS pandemic in Zimbabwe and similarities of the HIV pandemic with COVID for health care workers
The decision to pursue medicine and what she enjoys about being at the frontlines of patient care
What she studied for her undergraduate and her many interests and work experiences as a public health swiss army knife!
Working at the frontlines of COVID in Singapore in 2020
Taking breaks in your career and learning to avoid burnout-Take care of you!
What public health means to her
The particular value of patient care experience in public health
Skills that she has that she found useful in her clinical-public health roles
How she navigates working with different stakeholders at different levels in her work and maximizes her experience and knowledge for the benefit of communities and people
Nikki the public health shapeshifter? Public Health CIA or FBI? Let's find out!
Word to the wise:
Knowing that you have what it takes for roles- believe in yourself!
You don't have to be perfect for an opportunity so do not talk yourself out of it
Don't skimp on Quant skills!-Do a little bit more math than you are comfortable with. It will come in handy
Work on your writing skills
Qualitative methodology is key
Soft skills- get to know to people in the field- stay connected
To those especially looking to pivot- say hi to people and Network
Wednesday May 11, 2022
Wednesday May 11, 2022
In this episode we talk with Mandi Tembo, a Menstrual health enthusiast and PhD research fellow with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine about her journey and career in public health.
We discussed:
Mandi's introduction to and start of her public health work
How she started her PhD and the opportunities that led her to that point
The decision to get a PhD and timing for it
Working back in your home country and at the community level
How do you describe yourself? What do you day you do?
What does Public health mean to her?
How does she define public health for herself?
What Mandi likes and loves about working in public health
Feminist leadership in public health
Public health as activism
Challenges that come with working in public health
Funding, research barriers and Global North-Global South equity in global health
Public Health is hard work!
Leadership in public health
Website to check out : https://www.thruzim.org/
Thursday May 05, 2022
Thursday May 05, 2022
This episode covers the goal, vision and background of Utano Public Health Chats and gives an overview of what the episodes will be looking at and covering.
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