November 03, 2011
VOICE FROM A LIVING SOUL
Beginning in 2006, I spent three years working as the Mkuranga District Medical Officer, where I was in charge of the Mkuranga District Hospital, in the coastal region of Tanzania. At that time, I was also working as District Coordinator for the Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, Lymphatic Phiraliasis Eradication, and the Measles and Acute Paralysis Program. It was during this period that I started developing a passion for reproductive and child health, particularly in the areas of maternal and infant mortality.
Mkuranga is still a rural district. Working as a medical doctor there, I could not avoid facing a lot of maternal, infant and ‘under-five’ deaths and trauma which could have been avoided with a little effort.
I was educated at the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, where I received my medical degree and later completed my internship at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center. With support from Ford IFP, I received my master’s degree in Public Health in 2009, majoring in Social and Behavioral Health Sciences, with a Postgraduate Diploma in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. I never thought that one day I could be pursuing my advanced studies abroad. Sincerely speaking, that exposure not only advanced my professional knowledge and skills, but also transformed my way of thinking about a lot of issues affecting our daily social life.
It was during my 2nd year at the University of Manoa that I had to convince my supervisor to allow me conduct research in the area of reproductive health; my focus was on maternal and infant mortality happening in our community back home. My research paper was entitled “Social and Behavioral Factors Affecting the Decision of Home Delivery in the Mkuranga district in Tanzania”; the study used a “theory-based approach”. The feedback from my findings greatly improved maternal health services in that district.
Given that we have limited culturally-appropriate methods of disseminating research findings on reproductive health to
larger populations, I decided to translate my findings into a poem; that poem became “The Voice from a Living Soul”, a song I wrote to ensure that the message reached not only the policy makers, health leaders and health providers, but also the larger community. (
Click image right to download.)
For the past two years, I have been coordinating the only HPV vaccination program in the lake zone of Tanzania, which includes Mwanza, Kagera and Musoma regions. The program became one of the most successful HPV demonstration studies in sub-Saharan Africa. It aimed to inform the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on the feasibility of introducing school-based HPV vaccination programs in Tanzania. My key tasks included planning, implementing, and monitoring/evaluating all project activities. I regularly provided the Ministry with evidence-based key lessons and best practices learned.
I have been extensively involved in designing and conducting project-related community liaison strategies, including media outreach through local and national radio programs, television stations, and news papers; working with cultural troupes; conducting community sensitization and advocacy meetings in different wards among the participating districts; and conducting operational research for the project. For example, I conducted a Case Control Study which assessed girls who accepted the HPV vaccine (control) and those who refused be vaccinated (cases).
I am currently working as a Community Health advisor for the TIBU HOMA Project (Diagnosis and Management of Severe Febrile Illness) in the lake zone. This is a 5-year, USAID-funded project which aims to reduce morbidity and mortality rates due to severe febrile illness in children under five years old. Once we finish the inception activities we will quickly be moving to the community to implement the project.
About My Song Poem
"The Voice from a Living Soul” is an innovative way to explore the depth of the consequences women and children face due to health disparities affecting mothers during and after delivery. It is told through the voice of a baby who is lamenting the social injustice affecting pregnant mothers and unborn babies in our community. Click
HERE to download the audio file.
About My Photos
Top: This photo shows me facilitating a Focus Group Discussion (FDG) for the same research study I conducted with TBA’s, but now I was in discussion with various women, some who had a history of home deliveries, and others who gave birth at health facilities. Our meeting helped me gain insight into the delivery process. The photo was taken in Kiguza village in the Mkuranga district, on the grounds of a primary school.
Bottom: The leader of a cultural troupe performs for the community, delivering messages about cervical cancer and HPV vaccine. We used the cultural troupe as one approach to delivering culturally-appropriate reproductive health messages to the community through songs and drama. I actually had to teach them basic concepts about cervical cancer and HPV vaccination programs targeting school girls; then they designed appropriate songs, drama, and dances reflecting those concepts.