MPH Candidate Vann Lovett
Vann Lovett conducted her MPH practicum in Gondor, Ethiopia.
It was called “The Double Burden of Malnutrition in Ethiopia: a case of Gondar”
The practicum examined the burden of under-nutrition and chronic non-communicable disease at the Gondar University Hospital and the Debark Team Training Program site. An assessment of the University Hospital and public health activities and recommendations for interventions were primary goals of this practicum.
Practicum activities included separate clinical and rural health attachment components, in addition to faculty interviews and collecting information on standards of care in the hospital, as well as chronic disease burden and interventions in the North Gondar region. The clinical component focused on inpatient hospital care, as well as a skills lab on anthropometric field assessments. Pediatric and internal medicine rotations in the University Hospital rounded out the clinical experience. Faculty interviews with an Assistant Professor of Medicine, the Director of the Debat Research Center (responsible for collection of demographic data in the region), and the Team Training Program Director helped to provide background information on health issues. Visits to the North Gondar Zonal Health Department and the Gondar University Hospital kitchen offered further indication of the health system.
Additionally, there was a practical component focused on rural health issues and public health interventions by interdisciplinary student teams in Debark. The Team Training Program is a 6-week practical experience in rural health, which is a requirement for all students in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Gondar. Student activities include home visits and educational interventions, community diagnosis, primary health care program evaluation and review, supervision, health topic seminars, and completion of a group mini-project. The mini-projects relate to the service area the students work in such as school health service, prison health service, polyclinic, family health, or nutrition assessment and outreach.
The mini-project is an intervention implemented by the team of students to alleviate a health problem identified in the community diagnosis component of the TTP.
Students must mobilize community resources to complete the project.
The practicum committee for the Ethiopia project was: Chair- Kari Harris, Site Mentor - Molla Mesele, Head of Human Nutrition at University of Gondar, and 3rd Committee Member - Lynne Koester, Professor of Developmental Psychology at UM, who was also in Gondar at the time of the student practicum.