 | | | |
UWM students study – and teach – in Malawi
by: Kathy Quirk
 UWM students traveling to Malwai (and some friends) spent a Saturday afternoon after Christmas sorting and packing the medical supplies and clothing they’re taking with them to Malawi.Photo by Kathy Quirk
In addition to their textbooks, however, the students will be bringing suitcases full of medical supplies and clothing collected from fellow students and local health care companies to distribute to Malawian hospitals, clinics and orphanages.
Malawi is considered one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than 60 percent of the population living in poverty and lacking the basic necessities of life, according to Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu, a UWM assistant professor of nursing who is one of two faculty members leading the study abroad program. The health care system is overextended, particularly with the relatively high prevalence of HIV, currently estimated at 14 percent of the population, she adds. The supplies that the UWM students are taking along will have a significant impact.
“The students have done a fantastic job of acquiring both needed medical supplies (needles, syringes, sutures) and basic supplies like clothes and toys,” says Jennifer Runquist, assistant professor of nursing, the other faculty leader. “We have 22 suitcases full!”
“We learned from the staff at one of the hospitals that pain medicine like acetaminophen (Tylenol) for infants is in short supply, so the students found businesses willing to donate infant and children’s Tylenol to give to the special-care nursery,” she says. Many of the supplies will go to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, a referral hospital that sees many of the more complex cases that can’t be handled in district hospitals.
In addition to bringing supplies, the students will also do some clinical teaching in Malawi. One group of students will be teaching staff in the special-care nursery to use a few drops of sugar-water to help reduce pain for a few minutes in infants who are undergoing procedures like blood draws. This method, used in the United States, is a useful addition to acetaminophen and is helpful when that drug isn’t available. Other teaching projects include prevention of water-borne diseases and other illnesses such as tuberculosis and malaria. These teaching projects will be done in some of the villages that the students will be visiting. The students will also teach children at Malawi children’s village, a community-based orphan-care establishment, about proper hand-washing and brushing of teeth.
The UWM students will be visiting hospitals, clinics, social service organizations and the University of Malawi. Local Malawian medical practitioners, community activists and others who are working for better health care in the country will share their insights. In addition to learning and teaching, the students will be experiencing some of Malwai’s culture, visiting a family that hosts orphans, attending a traditional Malawian wedding and taking an extended trip into rural areas and a wildlife preserve.
Mkandawire-Valhum received her nursing degree from the University of Malawi’s Kazmu College of Nursing and has researched domestic violence and HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. Runquist is a specialist in maternal/infant health.
###
| |
|
|
|  | |
Print Version
Email
