Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast · Nemours Children's Health

Ep. 180: Global Health, Shared Humanity: Inside the Ginsburg Scholars' Uganda Experience (Part 2 of 2)

·32 min·2 clips

Dr. Gordon says the most valuable thing providers offer is “our time, our compassion, our humanity.”

1. Well Beyond Medicine: The Nemours Children's Health Podcast centers this episode on the Ginsburg Scholars’ Uganda experience, part 2 of 2. 2. Carol Vassar hosts Dr. Lorna Gordon, Dr. Sabrina Kataka, and Viola Makuru, whose work connects Nemours Children's Health, Macquarie University in Uganda, and the Ginsburg Institute. 3. The episode asks what global health partnerships change for adolescent care, research, and training across Uganda and the United States. 4. Dr. Kataka says partnerships with Nemours improve knowledge, advance research, build a community of researchers, and improve funding availability. 5. Makuru describes her year as a Ginsburg Scholar as “amazing,” and says she worked with Dr. Gordon as a research coordinator on menstrual poverty. 6. She also says the role included community interaction, volunteer service, and work with the Department of Health, which gave her a holistic view of medicine and public health. 7. Gordon and Kataka compare adolescent health in the United States and Uganda during a fireside chat about girls’ health and country demographics. 8. Gordon says adolescents make up about 12% of the U.S. population, while Kataka recalls a figure closer to 60% in Uganda. 9. Kataka explains that one out of every three people in Uganda is between ages 10 and 19, but very few providers are trained in adolescent health care. 10. She says that shortage leaves many adolescents falling through the cracks and can push them toward peers for health advice, including wrong information about sexual and reproductive health. 11. Kataka says the university started a General Adolescent Clinic, but it operates on a Friday and relies on multidisciplinary training across other clinics. 12. She says even psychiatrists, endocrinologists, and pulmonary specialists are taught to use the heads assessment and keep a non-judgmental attitude. 13. Makuru says she expected a lot from the trip, felt nervous leaving home for work travel, and wanted to learn what Uganda’s health system and culture were like. 14. She says the trip showed her major gaps in technology, including paper records in the malnutrition unit and only partial use of EMR systems. 15. Makuru also says she heard Dr. Lubega describe U.S. aid cuts as detrimental, and she connects those cuts to the need for outside support. 16. Kataka describes the scholars’ research on approximately 12,000 records, including depression scoring with the PHQ and psychosocial risk factors. 17. She names Viola, Treasure, Ariba, and data manager Vanessa as part of the team that produced abstracts intended to guide better outcomes. 18. Gordon says the experience helped Viola claim her role on the medical team, and Makuru says she now better understands how to listen to teenagers and patients without rushing. 19. The tone is conversational, reflective, and instructional, with extended back-and-forth among three clinicians and a scholar. 20. People interested in adolescent health, global health partnerships, or medical education will get the most from it, while listeners avoiding policy-heavy health discussions may skip it.

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