The GHSP Need

As promised, I am writing a Global Health Service Partnership (GHSP) 101/ what I'm doing in Malawi entry. For an extremely eloquent version of this, I recommend watching Vanessa Kerry's TED Talk (see below).

Let me begin with GHSP. If you smartly watched Vanessa's talk, you may skip to the next section (this is a choose your own adventure style blog entry). GHSP is a public-private partnership between Seed Global Health, Peace Corps, and US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that aims to increase human resources for health (HRH) in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. HRH is the fancy way of saying healthcare workers. In the case of GHSP, this refers specifically to physicians and nurses. You may be wondering why this program is targeting other countries when the US news repeatedly highlights the shortage of nurses and physicians (primarily primary care) in our country. Let's look to the numbers for the answer:

Physicians per 100,000 people

U.S.               240

Malawi            2

Tanzania          1

Uganda           12

Nurses per 100,000 people

U.S.              980

Malawi          28

Tanzania        24

Uganda         131

Some more staggering data: Africa has 24% of the global disease burden and merely 3% of the world's healthcare; Africa has 75% of the global burden of HIV; 1 in every 9 children under the age of 5 will die in Africa, while 1 in every 125 children under the age of 5 will die in the US. These statistics highlight the need for programs like GHSP that focus on increasing HRH. 

We've established a need for more HRH in GHSP countries. So what are we going to do about it? As GHSP volunteers, we plant seeds that will hopefully one day become a forest. In other words, we are teaching the next generation of physicians and nurses that will then become educators and foster the next generation. This is a challenging concept for us because as Americans, we seek immediate gratification. The results of our efforts may not be fully appreciated for years. Therefore, we need to follow the mantra pang'ono pang'ono, which means little by little or slowly in Chichewa. The need is tremendous. We cannot expect to meet this need completely, but as Mother Teresa said, we can make tiny ripples.

Tiwonana Alaska and Minnesota

I have had the best intentions of writing my first post for what feels like months. In true procrastinator fashion, I pen my first entry merely hours before I depart for Malawi. The past month has been a whirlwind of saying tiwonana (see you later in Chichewa) to friends and family in Alaska and Minnesota. I am grateful for the time I was able to spend in Alaska with the family. Rural Alaska prepared me for some of the challenges I will face in Malawi: water shortages, sometimes slow internet, dustiness, and large, potentially dangerous, mammals (hippos are the moose of Africa). However, the sense of community in rural Alaska is akin to what I anticipate finding in Malawi. Leaving Minnesota was definitely harder this go round thanks to an amazing group of individuals I am honored to call friends and family. A special shout-out to my zouk family- I expect you guys to grow our community by the time I get back!

On the river in Alaska

When I arrived in DC over one week ago, my first action was to study the bios of my fellow volunteers and the staff at Peace Corps and Seed Global Health. I am humbled and honored to work with such an extraordinary group of individuals with the shared mission of strengthening the health systems in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda through education. It has been an amazing experience getting to know everyone- I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

GHSP 2015-2016 Team

I realize that I am lacking detail on the program and what I will be doing in Malawi. This is something I plan to tackle on my 15 hour flight to Johannesburg. Stay-tuned for my next installment- coming to you from Malawi.