News Article
April 6, 2010
23 Students Awarded DGHI Funding for Global Health Research
The Duke Global Health Institute is pleased to award 23 grants to support student global health research and fieldwork projects in 10 countries this summer. With a total of $64,564 awarded to students, awardees include 18 undergraduates, two MSc-GH students, one medical student and two PhD students.
“The project proposals we received this year continue to reflect Duke students’ interest and commitment to academic investigation, especially as it relates to application and service,” said Sumi Ariely, DGHI student projects coordinator. “These students are mentored by faculty across seven different departments at Duke and represent a variety of important global health topics, ranging from trauma in obstetric fistula patients to intergenerational transmission of weight-related behaviors, to an economic analysis of telemedicine.”
DGHI supports 18 fieldwork projects in 10 countries. Each student will be working in conjunction with a community partner to carry out their project. Upon their return to Duke in the fall, each student will present their research and experiences at GH TRIPS 2010 before their peers and global health faculty.
“We are excited about the students’ upcoming summer work and look forward to hearing their stories from the field,” said Ariely.
This is the third year DGHI has administered the fieldwork grant program.
Duke Undergraduate Selected for Inaugural Global Health Fieldwork Fund
The Duke Global Health Institute is pleased to name Sneha Shah the first recipient of The Aalok S. Modi Global Health Fieldwork Fund for her dedication to solving domestic and international health issues.
Aalok S. Modi’s life was tragically cut short two years ago, but it was his life-long dream to pursue a career in medicine and global health. The new global health scholarship in his name represents Modi’s legacy at Duke, and aims to empower other Duke students to engage in global health research that embodies his aspirations and commitment to serve humanity.
Shah, an economics major and chemistry minor who is pursuing the Global Health Certificate through DGHI, will receive $2,500 to carry out a research project in Naama, Uganda this summer. She will be conducting a needs assessment to determine the financial feasibility of an Emergency Obstetric Medical Service in Naama, where she hopes her research will lead to training of first responders and a community financing plan to sustain the service.
The Aalok S. Modi Global Health Fieldwork Fund is administered by DGHI, and the recipient was selected by members of the Modi family, the fundraising committee and Duke faculty.
Awardees:
Auriel August (Biomedical Engineering)
August will be working with The Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER), which is an NGO that has built the first all-girls boarding school in Muhuru Bay, Kenya and opened its doors in January. Its goals are to improve educational, economic, and health outcomes for girls while also creating gender allies in boys and promoting community development.
Perry Blank (Environmental Sciences, Global Health Certificate)
“The Utilization of Traditional Medicine in the Naama Community”
The purpose of the project is to discover the utilization of traditional medicine in the Naama community with the end goal of improving health. This includes specifically learning whether people tend to use it in their homes or by visiting traditional healers. Using this information, it will be possible to create better access to the most utilized form of traditional medicine as well as educate the community and the healers about the utilization of traditional medicine.
Erin Boland (Public Policy Studies, Global Health Certificate)
“Assessing Disparities in HIV/AIDS Awareness Across Gender in Lomé, Togo”
The project will explore gender inequalities in AIDS-related knowledge, perceptions, and behaviors of young Togolese adults. Subjects aged 18-25 years old will be recruited from patients undergoing treatment at Aides Médicales et Charité in Lomé. Participants will complete structured, confidential surveys on AIDS knowledge, AIDS stigma items, and adherence to treatment. After data collection, comparisons will be made between the Togolese men and women’s responses. Results will be provided to the clinic and partnering NGOs to help them provide more effective HIV/AIDS counseling services and awareness campaigns.
Lori Keeling Buhi (Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology track)
“An Ethnographic Study of Intergenerational (mother-daughter) Transmission of Weight-related Behaviors”
Buhi will investigate the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and sociocultural factors that influence weight-related behaviors among a group of overweight/obese Black mother-daughter dyads using ethnographic research methods and quantitative audit tools. Findings will be used to develop an innovative behavioral weight management intervention designed to break the cycle of intergenerational transmission of obesity among this high risk population and have the potential to be leveraged abroad in populations where such factors diminish the efficacy of traditional weight loss approaches.
Catherine Castillo (Biology, Global Health Certificate)
“Wake County Human Services Tuberculosis and Control”
This aim of this project is to serve the community and understand the functions of the public health system. Castillo will assist Wake County Human Services tuberculosis control staff on: 1) projects seeking to improve the quality of TB screening and treatment, and 2) a variety of on-site research projects (topics include TB treatment and adherence, new blood testing methods). Castillo will also assist and observe during patient visits in the central clinic, outreach visits, and evening migrant health clinics.
Tammy Chin (Biology, Chemistry, Global Health Certificate)
“Understanding and Supporting Health Care, Education, and Access in Terms of Obstetric Fistula and HIV”
The goal of this project will be to understand and support preventive measures of obstetric fistula and HIV in Mwika Uuwo, Tanzania. This includes clinical shadowing and understanding of the cultural aspects of health care. Through community surveys, appropriate health education material will be developed, a prevalence study accomplished, and dissemination of preventive measures with the community and nearby school on important health issues prevalent in the region. Emphasis will be placed on child and maternal health, which is a huge burden in Africa.
Brian Clement (Cultural Anthropology, Global Health Certificate)
“Changing Social Networks and Health in the Bhutanese Refugee Community”
Clement will study the Bhutanese refugee community, a population in which social networks are rapidly and drastically changing. This multi-site ethnographic research project, to be conducted both in Durham, North Carolina and in the Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal, will investigate how the refugee resettlement experience changes social networks and, in turn, how this might affect health in the resettled Bhutanese population. It will examine the ways in which social networks are reconfigured between Nepal and North Carolina; how social hierarchies and power dynamics between individuals, families, and castes will be altered as a result of differing abilities to gain social capital and integrate successfully; and how these processes impact stress levels, the way chronically ill or disabled persons are cared for, the transmission of knowledge about health and healthcare systems, and risky or salutogenic health behaviors.
Lisa Deng (Biology, Global Health Certificate)
“Assessing Palliative Care Needs in Naama, Uganda”
This project will assess palliative care needs in Naama, which faces health obstacles and rising rates of disease such as HIV/AIDS. To understand palliative care needs, Deng will consider five contributing variables: availability of palliative services, utilization by the community, presence of different modalities (biomedical versus traditional), barriers to access, and finally policy impacts. She will hold focus groups and interviews with community members, religious leaders, community leaders, health care providers, and relevant organizations. This knowledge will be the first step in generating a relevant, descriptive needs assessment, laying the foundation for which local policy makers, community leaders, and organizations can take positive actions in supporting the chronically ill and dying.
Joshua Greenberg (Program II- Global Health: Innovation, Access and Effectiveness)
“Rainwater Harvesting in Kashongi, Uganda”
The project is a continuation of a long-term project in Kashongi, Uganda in which Greenberg has played an integral role in initiating, in partnership with Mayanja Memorial Hospital Foundation. The project will consist of an academic evaluation of the rainwater harvesting program his team will begin in summer 2010. The aims of the project are to reduce rates of diarrheal diseases, decrease the time to fetch water, improve water quality at the household level, and inform future service delivery.
Darriel Harris (Divinity, DGHI Student Council)
“Healing in a House of Peace”
The purpose of this project is to observe, understand, and document the Burundian founded and organized Rema Hospital within the faith-based NGO Maison Shalom. The goal is to discover a new paradigm for health care institutions in rural areas recovering from war.
Kelly Hu (Environmental Sciences, Global Health Certificate)
“Specialty Health Care for the Uninsured: Project Access of Durham County”
Project Access of Durham County (PADC) aims to alleviate the burden of treatable and preventable diseases on this population by connecting low-income uninsured Durham residents with specialty medical needs to a network of local clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, and laboratories. While PADC continues to enroll new patients and expand the directory of healthcare providers available to participants, Hu’s role will consist primarily of interviewing patients for the enrollment process, as well as helping with day-to-day tasks, including office work and record-keeping. The aim of the project is to continue increasing access to healthcare for the uninsured, and by extension, to heighten their awareness of the healthcare resources available to them.
Maxwell Kligerman (Political Science, Chemistry)
“Analysis of Cataracts in Honduras”
The purpose of this project is to gain a better understanding of cataracts in Honduras. The study’s two components will consist of 1) patient perceptions about cataract surgery in Rural Honduras and 2) interviewing and videotaping the postoperative patients at a Unite For Sight partner clinic in Tegucigalpa.
Sonya Kothadia (Biology, Chemistry, Global Health Certificate)
“Evaluating Maternal Nutrition and Maternal Health Services in Naama, Uganda”
This project addresses the lack of maternal health in Naama, Uganda, where there are approximately 505 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. It will consist of surveying a random sample of mothers to evaluate their nutrition and how a mother’s antenatal health affects her child’s health. This information will identify problems that can be alleviated through future service projects. Kothadia will also work with the local non-governmental organizations in Naama to appraise the maternal health services provided by these organizations in an effort to foster collaboration and effectiveness of such services. Another aim of the project will be to identify local leaders who can serve as mentors for younger women.
Yuqian Liu (International Comparative Studies and Arabic language, Global Health Certificate)
“Internship at the National Center of HIV/STD”
The purpose of this research is to characterize the attitudes and understandings of HIV/AIDS in female construction workers in Beijing. This group of understudied people is at great risk of getting infected of HIV/AIDS due to their lack of formal education in health-related issues and cultural backgrounds. This research will help us better understand the recognition of this deadly disease in a particular social context in which a marginalized people are in control of the information generated.
Austin Mattox (Chemistry with concentration in Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Global Health Certificate)
“Understanding and Supporting Health Care Education and Access”
The goal of the work at Mwika Uuwo dispensary in Tanzania is to devise a new patient medical chart with the help of questionnaires provided to clinic staff and patients. Positive outcomes can result from small changes in the way care is recorded and provided without the need for large financial capital. Demonstration that small changes can have large impacts indicates that improvements in health care are in reach for the most rural of medical clinics.
Kristen Pfau (Environmental Management, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Health track, Global Health Certificate)
“Insecticide Use for Malaria Control: Weighing Health Benefits Against Consequences”
The goal of this project is to use Expert Elicitations to gain knowledge on the relative health benefits and potential consequences of DDT used in IRS for malaria control, in order to provide decision analysis support for malaria-endemic communities. Scientific data supports that high exposure to DDT has serious negative human health effects. However, very little is known about how these effects can or cannot be extrapolated down to the low-exposure levels seen with IRS. The project will evaluate how Tanzanian experts in toxicology, public health, disease control, and politics think about the situation considering the gaps in knowledge, and how they apply this thinking to the issues of malaria control in their country.
Kaitlin Rawluk (Pediatrics Residency)
“Santa Rita Birthing Clinic Patient Population and Utilization Patterns in Honduras”
This research will identify and describe the patient population in the El Jaral (free) Birthing and emergency clinic of Santa Rita de Copan, Honduras. The clinic is underutilized despite country-wide high neonatal and maternal mortality rates. Secondary analysis of existing clinic record data will be compiled and analyzed to characterize users to support quality and budget decisions as well as future surveillance to improve ante- and postnatal service utilization.
Rollin Say (Economics, Global Health Certificate)
“Economic Analysis of Telemedicine”
The purpose of this project is to study a remote Amazon community and its reaction to a new telemedicine intervention provided by the EduMed Institute. Say will gather data from the community to perform an economic analysis of the community and physician response to the introduction of the new technology and the impact on health care usage, quality of care provided, and select health outcomes. If successful, this could have strong implications for the expansion of this technology to other communities in the Amazon Basin.
Sneha Shah (Economics, Chemistry, Global Health Certificate)
“Feasibility and Needs Assessment of an Emergency Obstetric Medical Service”
The purpose of this project is to conduct a needs assessment and to determine the financial feasibility of an Emergency Obstetric Medical Service in Naama, Uganda. The aims of the research will be to begin training first responders and to work with community leaders to plan a community financing scheme for the emergency medical service.
Jori Sheade (Biology, Chemistry, Global Health Certificate)
“Presence and Causes of Malnutrition in Children in Kunya Village”
This research focuses on obtaining quantitative data on the presence of malnutrition and the underlying causes, both biological and social, among children in Kunya Village, Kenya. Data on height for weight, weight for age, height for age, and day-to-day diet will be collected. Children will also be tested for anemia through the hospital in Kisumu. Sheade will spot trends to determine social causes behind malnourishment. Mama na Dada will use the compiled data to modify their agriculture and livestock education and training program to improve the health of children in Kunya Village.
Melanie Subramanian (Evolutionary Anthropology, Chemistry, Global Health Certificate)
“Wake County Human Services Tuberculosis and Control”
Subramanian will work with the Wake County Human Services Tuberculosis Clinic to gain a better understanding of the prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis among Latinos, migrant workers, and other underserved communities in Wake County, North Carolina. She will assist in quality improvement projects that utilize Geographic Information Systems and SMS technologies to improve outcomes from Directly Observed Therapy. The aim of the project is gain a better understanding of how these North Carolinian populations perceive tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment in order to improve their treatment outcomes.
Sarah Wilson (Psychology and Neuroscience)
“Studying Obstetric Fistula and Trauma (SOFT) in Moshi”
This project will investigate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and somatization in women with obstetric fistula (OF). It is anticipated that women with OF will have clinically significant psychiatric and emotional effects of traumatization.
Alice Zhang (Biology, Global Health Certificate)
“Lack of Clean Water: Health Consequences and Risk Factors”
This project will consist of an observational, epidemiological study examining water-related diseases in Kunya Village, located in the Nyanza province in Kenya. Zhang will examine the health consequences resulting from the lack of clean water and the risk factors that predispose Kunya villagers to water-related diseases. The main outcome of the research is to establish trends and patterns of the health consequences resulting from the lack of clean water and to identify the major risk factors for contracting various water-related diseases.