2014 was quite a year for me. I left a job in advertising to purse a role that put in me touch with my passion for social justice and opened me up to a whole other world – the world of global health.
The training at Yale gave me knowledge that I would not have thought to previously acquire. One of my favorite sessions was by Mike Westerhaus on the ‘Social Determinants of Health’. This session took me back a couple months earlier – to be exact 17th March – the day of my first GHC interview, a bittersweet experience beckoned that day. I had woken up with chills and threw up during the night, by morning my temperature hit the roof – a fever. I contemplated calling in sick for my interview and have it postponed. I soldiered on and managed to complete my interview. Soon after, I had taken a taxi home and crawled into bed, the funk had taken its toll. Later that evening I went to a private clinic under my mother’s health scheme, as the doctor carried out tests it was found that I had malaria (16 years after my last diagnosis) and I was put on medication, with a week home from work.
Coming back to the session on the social determinants of health, it dawned on me that an experience like mine doesn’t always end in an author telling their malaria story. The factors that affect the status of health are not equal for everyone. I had access to private health care through a parent’s health scheme, a guess that it could have been malaria by the time I had the blood work done, a supportive family structure and a conducive environment to heal. It seems that this is not a reality for most people in Zambia, as I discovered earlier in the year through Robert*.
Robert had experienced a lot in the past two years, his wife and two kids had been diagnosed with malaria resulting in a bout of meningitis in one of his children. Having recently lost his job as a causal worker, the burden of disease along with general struggles, daily life had become unbearable; living in one of Lusaka’s densely populated compounds didn’t help either. The months following proved even worse for Robert as death gripped his family with his wife passing on after a long illness. Robert’s wife wouldn’t live to write her own story. Many are the circumstances that contribute to health inequalities the world over, for Robert the loss of a low paying job without any social protection, inadequate transportation, high cost of drugs (even lack of drugs in some settings) and inadequate sanitation and diet added to his family’s health problems. All these issues seem a world away from most of us, but for some it’s a reality that is often too painful to bear and an unjust scenario in a world of plenty.
Looking back, the experiences in 2014 taught me how fortunate I am to be in the position I am in to advocate and tell these stories, both mine and others. Global Health Corps affords each fellow the benefits that most people don’t get to have: to live healthy lives that help close the gaps in our generation. The responsibility of current GHC fellows, alumni and aspiring fellows is great but not out of reach.
“To whom much is given much is required” – the present calls us to build towards a future where all are equal starting with one Robert at a time, in whatever sphere of influence or way possible to bridge that gap. The future is looking bright for Robert and his family, a new job and his two children are attending school, the gap is closing and can only get better as health inequity is addressed.
*Real name withheld for privacy reasons