Introduction to Public Health

On Monday morning, the interns woke up to a breakfast spread of bagels, waffles, cereal, and juice before meeting up with their teams to start their introduction to the world of public health and learning a little more about the week ahead. 

They were lucky to hear from Dr. Tamara Henry for their first lecture of the day, where they dove into the definition of health, social determinants of health, socio-ecological models and their influence on public health campaigns, and the ways in which they will be able to enact change in their communities and the country, both now and in the future. Dr. Henry has a rich background in medicine and public health and was so appreciative of the many thoughtful questions and responses generated by our students - some even sacrificed their break at the end of the lecture to dive even deeper into her wealth of knowledge and ask some small group questions. 

Once we said goodbye to Dr. Henry, we went through the expectations and parameters surrounding the Public Health Workshops they’ll create in their teams: an intervention with a community in Bauchi State, Nigeria to combat malaria, typhoid fever, acute respiratory tract infections, and nutritional anemia through prevention and awareness. 

Dr. Ibrahim then joined us to teach the interns about Acute Respiratory Tract Infections - symptoms, causes, epidemiology, and treatment options! The interns reflected on their own experiences with the common cold, but also times they experienced more serious infections (pneumonia, bronchitis, etc.). They discussed the implications, then, of the ways in which our physical location impacts our health - when we live in an area with strong healthcare systems, we can diagnose, get treatment, and prevent these diseases with more ease and accessibility than in areas without. 

This afternoon, they’ll listen to lectures on the other three diseases to lay the groundwork for the rest of the week’s work and learn to plaster cast! So far, they have impressed every speaker with their thoughtfulness and the depth to their curiosity.