J-TERM INTERNSHIP IN NUTRITION AND GLOBAL HEALTH

Initiative to End Child Malnutrition Nyakibale Hospital, Uganda

HARVARD COLLEGE GLOBAL HUNGER INITIATIVE

Introduction

  Rukungiri is currently the poorest district of Uganda  only one district hospital, the

Karoli Lwanga Nyakibale Hospital

  Food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition are key challenges in the district  No formal malnutrition

treatment program existed in the Rukungiri District, prior to January 2010

Establishment of a Malnutrition Treatment Program

  Sept 2009   MGH wrote a comprehensive malnutrition treatment protocol tailored

specifically for the Rukungiri District   Sept – Dec 2009

  GHI/MGH translated the protocol into an interactive teaching curriculum   January 2010

  3 members of GHI and Keri Cohn, MD traveled to Nyakibale to train staff in malnutrition treatment

  Established Nyakibale as a referral center for malnutrition treatment   Summer 2010

  6 members of GHI re-trained staff, developed the in-patient and out-patient treatment centers, and expanded community outreach

  Established an income-generating social enterprise project to subsidize the cost of care, allowing for an affordable flat-rate fee for care

J-Term Opportunity

  Overview:   Dates of travel: January 3rd to

January 23rd   Students will be responsible for

locating funding  Options: Committee on African

Studies J-Term funding, Lowe Career Decision Fund, fundraising

  Application posted this weekend

  Offers announced by November 1st

J-Term Opportunity

  YOUR Role as an intern:

(1) Help create a sustainable education program

(2) Expand community outreach efforts

(3) Assess and troubleshoot the current malnutrition program

(4) Help solve the issue of financial sustainability

Sustainable Education

  Create a curriculum that nurses at the hospital can use to train new nurses, and students at the nursing school

  Creation of a national teaching curriculum for nursing schools

  Incorporate our malnutrition training into the regular curriculum at the nursing school at Nyakibale Hospital, and also in nursing schools throughout Uganda

Community Outreach

 Continue training staff at Community Health Centers in how to diagnose malnutrition, and when to refer patients to the hospital

 Visit local villages and community centers to lecture about malnutrition, and test patients

 Incorporate malnutrition assessment into immunization clinics

Implementation

 Quality control on protocol implementation by nurses

 Evaluate the success of the program since we left this summer – analyze case load, health outcomes

Financial Sustainability

 Assess the success of the canteen (small convenience shop) we set up in January

 Evaluate the potential for a second income-generating model

Positions Available

1.  Economic / Business   evaluation of canteen   ideas for other projects

2.  Clinical   check adherence to

protocol   create nursing school

curriculum 3.  Education

  community outreach   training nurses

4.  Agriculture   research agriculture ideas   time in the field

5.  Photographer   take pictures, write blogs --

document the January experience

  maintain the website 6.  Fundraising

  work can be done locally   looking for grants to

finance the continuation of this project

  fundraising for students’ expenses

Language

  English  All doctors are proficient

in English  Most nurses and clinical

officers are proficient in English

  Runyankuri  Local language

Things to focus on in the short-term

(1) Creation of a curriculum / adaptation of our power point curriculum

(2) Get in contact with the Ministry of Health to explore possibility of national malnutrition curriculum

(3) Get in contact with the District Health Officer to figure out where we should focus our outreach efforts

(4) Explore fundraising opportunities and grant applications

(5) Research about agriculture in Uganda (6) Look into what “microfinance” type projects have been

successful in the region

Medical Shadowing Opportunities (if interested)

  Emergency Department  Shadow ER doctors   Interact with nurses and

clinical officers

  Pediatric Ward  Shadow doctors during

rounds in the AM  Operating Room  Shadow surgeons

Apply!

  Apply online, starting this weekend!  Link for the application will be

sent over GHI list

  Interviews over the next couple of weeks

  Questions?  Email kthurber89@gmail.com, or

cgoldstein@college.harvard.edu