Being a Global Health Corps fellow does not require you to have come from a health background or have these huge experiences, but rather your passion and your commitment towards achieving your dream to fight for social justice. You can come from math, physics, history or any other background and still be able to shift to a public health profession if you remain committed.
Sometime back, I was a reporter of our community radio station. I used to report on issues that affected communities. Most of the time the reports were regarding politics and disputes among community members, but I did not feel that I had helped the communities as much as I wanted to. I enjoyed speaking for the voiceless, especially raising their concerns and see the good outcomes after the decision makers have intervened but this did not make me as happy as I wished. I wanted to make a direct positive change to the community and decided to shift to the public health field. I would not have imagined that one day I would work in the fight against AIDS, as a GHC fellow at Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) working as a Research Analyst, with its Kabeho study primarily designed to determine 18 and 24 month HIV-free survival of a cohort of HIV-exposed children in the prevention of mother-to-child (PMTCT) Option B+ program. Despite my background and experiences which were completely different from public health, GHC and EGPAF have really helped me transitioning and shift to the Public Health career.
My experiences both as a GHC fellow, and as a Research Analyst at EGPAF this year have served as a bridge for the person I want to be in the future. It’s not easy to believe that one can shift and change in 12 months of the fellowship, but I can testify that I have grown both personally and professionally, and my way of looking at things has really opened. I truly believe in the GHC motto that “health is a human right”. To be honest, before joining GHC and EGPAF, I never knew that an HIV positive women can get pregnant and give birth to a healthy child!!!. But now I know that as long as a woman takes her antiretroviral therapy as prescribed, her immune system becomes stronger and she can give birth to a healthy child. This is what I have been working on at EGPAF. Now, I can testify that health is a global human right. Current research even allows an HIV positive woman to live and give birth to a healthy child.
I have been working on what I like as I can see directly good results of my work. When I see a cohort of 608 HIV positive pregnant women enrolled in a study that their children are born healthy, that makes me happy and proud of what I am doing. Throughout this fellowship year, I have learned that it is never too late to make a career change and do what you like; all it takes is for you to follow your instinct and work hard to achieve your dream.