From the Field – Page 4 – Global Reproductive Health at Duke

Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Melat’s Reflection in Kisumu

July 19, 2023April 3, 2025 by Melat WoldetensaeNo Comments

We’re on the last week of our trip, and these eight weeks have flown by fast! Our summer trip is winding down, and we’re wrapping up our plans as we prepare to leave in one week, but it feels like we should stay a few more. The app mSaada is really coming together (go Thao!), and we’ve learned SO much on the daily challenges of global health projects. Currently we’re wrapping the Standard Operating Procedure, FAQs, and training manuals for Community Health Volunteers (CHVs), research assistants, and other members of the team. There are still many logistical challenges to work though like how to mobilize over 400 CHVs to the different communities that they serve, and how to register each CHV and their clients. We’re here only over the summer, but the team here in Kisumu does so much work for mSaada, and I’ll miss them when we leave. The best part about being in the office is being able...

Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Isabel’s Reflections in Kisumu

July 4, 2023April 3, 2025 by Isabel SiebrechtNo Comments

Starting right where Sydney left off, I, too, just had my first experience going into the field. As Sydney mentioned, each of us will get a chance to tag along for a site visit to a sub-county, and after spending thirty days in Kenya, it was finally my turn! I accompanied Breandan, Jennifer, and Purity to the Nyando sub-county. After meeting with the MoH representative at Ahero Hospital, we conducted site visits for Ahero and four other hospitals in the county. As I quietly took notes, I couldn't help but notice the passion and dedication of every director, community volunteer, doctor, administrator, and healthcare provider. Unlike the privatized systems in the U.S., the healthcare system in Kisumu relies heavily on community involvement. As a global health research team, it is our responsibility to work closely with the community, and our meetings have created a collaborative space where all parties are enthusiastic about our proposed project. Our collaborative efforts aren't limited to...

Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Sydney’s Reflections in Kisumu

June 21, 2023April 3, 2025 by Sydney ChenNo Comments

Flew internationally totally alone; bargained for prices; saw a male lion (pictured); saw a dead, half-eaten buffalo that two lionesses just killed (not pictured); ate smokies (a hot dog with tomatoes, onion, and a spicy sauce inside). These are some highlights from my “first time ever” list since leaving the U.S.. Novelty and unfamiliarity were our neighbors for the first two weeks living in Kisumu, Kenya. At the end of the third week, we were off to another “first time ever”: a visit to the Lumumba Hospital. We – okay, hold on. “We” refers to my fellow researchers (and now my friends) Isabel and Melat. They are both proud Seattlites (first time ever learning that’s how you refer to people from Seattle) which has led to times where I learn more about Seattle than I do Kenya. We’ve really gelled as a unit no matter how fast I walk, how many limes Melat eats, or how many random romcoms Isabel suggests. Anyways,...

Meet Our Research Team in Kisumu, Kenya This Summer

June 14, 2023April 4, 2025 by Amber SmithNo Comments

This summer, we have 5 Duke Scholars working with the Duke Center for Global Reproductive Health in Kisumu, Kenya. We have 3 undergraduate students joining the Center as part of the Student Research Training Program (SRT), a Masters of Global Health Student, and a 3rd year OB/GYN resident all conducting research in Kenya. Read below to learn a bit about these passionate students and hear about their work and what they are most looking forward to. SRT Students: Sydney Chen (she/her) Sydney is a double major in Global Health and International Comparative Studies with a Biology Minor. She calls Herndon, Virginia home. When asked about what her time spent in Kisumu looks like, she reflected that “The team and I are working on various ways to improve an app called mSaada which helps women in East Africa receive screening for cervical cancer. I’m specifically working on the FAQ portion of the app by making sure that the answers are clinically accurate and using...

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. EMILY HERFEL

October 19, 2022December 10, 2024 by Amber SmithNo Comments

Emily Herfel, DO, Msc-GH, FACOG (Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists), is an assistant professor at Duke Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, an affiliate at the Duke Center for Global Reproductive Health, and a volunteer professor at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania. Dr. Herfel completed her undergraduate work at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio followed by a Doctor of Osteopathy at Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio. She completed residency at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She then went on to receive her Masters of Science in Global Health through a Women’s Global Health Fellowship at Duke University. During that fellowship, she received an NIH-Fogarty grant to complete her project in Kisumu, Kenya. I had an enriching conversation with Dr. Herfel to learn more about her experiences within the global health sphere and her passion for reproductive health care. “Right in the heart of COVID, in July 2020, I moved to...

REFLECTION FROM THE FIELD: JULIA’S REFLECTIONS IN NAIROBI

September 10, 2022December 10, 2024 by Julia DavisNo Comments

I recently landed back home in Boston after spending most of my summer in Nairobi, Kenya researching cross-cultural early childhood development with Universal Baby. Universal Baby is a public health, caregiver coaching intervention that creates videos to share current neuroscience and child development information across the globe. Towards the end of my time in Kenya, I visited a Maasai Village in Kajiado South sub-county, about 5-6 hours outside of the Nairobi. The Maasai are one of Kenya’s ethnic tribes, originally from the lower Nile Valley. I embarked on this journey, acutely aware of how the injustice and violence of colonialism has shaped the education systems and subsequent socioeconomic advancements in Kenya. We stopped for the night in the rural town of Bisil before starting off early the following morning for the village, passing giraffes and ostriches on the drive there. Our first stop was Loolkair Primary School, a K-8 school with nearly 400 students and only eight teachers. As we arrived, hundreds of...

Reflection From the Field: Dr. Emily Herfel’s Reflections in Kisumu

July 21, 2022December 10, 2024 by Emily HerfelNo Comments

It is hard to believe I have called Kisumu home for almost a year, with time cut short by the elections set for early August. Our team is busy, skillfully orchestrating multiple studies concurrently. The stigma education study, looking at the impact of a stigma-responsive educational video on cervical cancer screening behavior, is in full swing. The six health facility sites are offering research-supported HPV self-testing as part of their cervical cancer screening program, led by community healthcare volunteers (CHVs). Our three intervention sites are also showing the HPV stigma-responsive education video. The team then visits each site once a week to ask women to participate in a validated HPV/cervical cancer stigma measurement tool. Jeniffer, our study clinician, is leading the project with grace, balancing the day-to-day activities with each facility. Getting positive feedback from the CHVs and women of the community about a cervical cancer screening technique that avoids a speculum helps to keep us motivated. Some of the sites are...

Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Laya’s, Reflections in Kisumu

July 18, 2022April 3, 2025 by Laya SathyanNo Comments

As we start our eighth and final week in Kisumu, the SRT team is finishing up the last stages of our on-the-ground research, and preparing for our trip back to the US! At this point in time, we are almost finished with our clinic observations. Despite several scheduling changes, we will complete our project with five to six observation sessions at each of the six clinics. Additionally, we have set in motion the plans for the Kisumu team to conduct focus group discussions (FGDs) at the intervention clinics after we leave. The purpose of the FGDs is to understand women’s opinions about our educational intervention, and how they feel about incorporating peer navigation services into the clinics. Unfortunately, we will not be here to witness the FGDs as we originally anticipated, but we’ve been working on setting everything up so that they will run smoothly in our absence. That includes getting participant recruitment up and running, going over our questions and...

Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Bentley’s, Reflections in Kisumu

June 30, 2022April 3, 2025 by Bentley ChoiNo Comments

First and foremost, we have passed the halfway point of our time in Kenya! Time flies by, and we are discussing what we want to get out of the next four weeks. Insofar, we collected more than 20 observation data to evaluate the workflow of stigma education at the clinic. During this process, we faced multiple hiccups, especially scheduling a visit and clearing up logistics. Three of our observation clinics had a twelve-day-long CHV training, so we had to flip our schedule to ensure we could collect the data we initially planned. We spent the last couple of days creating a contingency plan so that our time in Kenya could contribute to the depth of our data. Listening to what other teammates thought helped us, as a team, solidify the future direction of our study, such as what variables to analyze in observation studies, codes for focus group discussion, and the focus of our manuscript. Besides working on an observational study,...

Reflection From the Field: SRT Student, Haley’s, Reflections in Kisumu

June 15, 2022April 3, 2025 by Haley DionNo Comments

We have made it through week three of our time in Kisumu, Kenya! The weeks are truly flying by because our research is progressing, and we are enjoying our time in the city. The other SRT students and I officially started our workflow analysis observations at each of the six clinics this past week. There are three intervention clinics, at which community health volunteers (CHVs) display an educational video about human-papillomavirus (HPV) self-screening, and three control clinics, where CHVs provide health education talks about HPV and offer the self-screening. Through our observations so far, it is clear that all the CHVs are quick learning, adaptable, and passionate about increasing HPV screening for women in Kisumu! We have enjoyed our first week of observations because of all the positive aspects we have seen with our study. Fortunately, many women are opting into HPV self-screening, and we are able to increase prevention of cervical cancer in many of the Kisumu sub-counties! We...

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