Something worth sharing

Consistency......

Started out this blog with a lot of enthusiasm. I'm sobered now by my obvious inability to keep up with the task of updating the page. I wonder what my consistency score will be if based on this blog alone!

The fall is now almost gone, giving way to the winter season. The picture to the right was taken two weeks ago.


Now back to other gists............





Nigeria finally decided to appoint new minister for the Health ministry! This is something to cheer about, particularly with the calibre of people so far named.


One only hopes we see result this time and politics is left out of our health system.


Welcome to December.

Sing for Nigeria

I recollect though faintly the nice song composed to mark Nigeria's 25th anniversary. Some lines go like this.. Happy celebration, join the celebration...Nigeria is 25...25!
That was 23 years ago!
Growing up through the years that followed, I cannot recollect us having such a nice song again.
I hope it didnt mean there were no songs to sing.
We need to sing a new song for Nigeria.
Happy celebrations to us all and to all the friends of Nigeria all over.

I'm back.

It's exactly 8 days since I last made a entry into this page. I apologize to all my new fans and the regular readers. I didn't forget at all. Just that the week was very tight.


It's all for good anyway.





Last Saturday, physicians from Nigeria in the MPH had a meeting to discuss issues relevant to our welfare and career advancement. We also made plans for the upcoming Independence day celebration.





Sunday - Attended worship service and then went looking for clothes to keep self warm in the Boston cold. It's getting cold here!





Mon - Fri - I was kept busy with school work. Had an exam on Thurs which was ok.





Sat.- Today has been rewarding. I am yet to read school stuffs but I have done things which made me healthier. I walked out in the morning and later went shopping. Did my laundry and later cooked for the week. Afterwards I spent the evening with some friends.
Spoke with family too.
Great!

Will continue later............

Friday, a delight for all!

Thank God it's Friday! It's always a day which everyone looks forward to.

Today went quite nicely for me.

After 2 classes and 1 lab, I returned to my room where I enjoyed the video of "I'll say Yes" by the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir which I ordered recently.

The HSPH Christian Students' fellowship had a dessert party which I attended and met some new people, one of which was a couple who were in Nigeria over the summer. O how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

I should sleep early today (ie before 1am) so as to start my day early tomorrow.

It's getting cold now and I don't have the requisite beddings and clothings yet.

Need to act fast! Real fast!

So I head downtown tomorrow to see what I can get.

Some assignments are also due soon which I also need to attend to over the weekend.

Had a chat with a coursemate from Nigeria this evening who is also very passionate about our country and equiping herself to also make a difference! Really excited as God is touching and raising people in diverse places and preparing them to make Nigeria better!

I will include here a pitch for the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir's 'I'll say Yes' Go grab a copy and enjoy the atmosphere of worship set in your room!

Good News from Rwanda.

One of the classes I had taken over the summer was Introduction to Global Healthcare Delivery which was an immersion course into the practice of healthcare across the world particularly with respect to the roles of NGO's, donors and international agencies.
The class being case-based enabled us to critically study several programs and learn practical issues relating to each program and the reasons for their great successes or otherwise.

The Rwanda case highlighted the bold and great strides of the Government of Rwanda in their health sector as a whole, with a leverage obtained from HIV funds.

Today I was fortunate to listen and discuss with Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, the Exec. Sec of the Rwanda HIV commission! It was awesome!
I learnt several things about what makes their health system tick, a few of which I outline below.

1. Political Will: We've over-flogged this. Even the Govt of Nigeria say it! But go to Rwanda and see what political will is.
It means allowing people do their work as best as they can without interfering. It means making healthcare of the people a priority and making ploicies that promote this.
In her words, she says her organization works with the efficiency comparable with that of private organizations, within the linits of the law.

2. Harmonization: One lovely thing they did while starting was to take charge of the various NGO's in their country and taking responsiblity for the health of their people. They coordinated the operations of the various NGOs and asked those who couldnt harmonize with them to leave!
She says nobody (the NGOs) can love her people more than she does! That thrilled me. It really does.

3. The framework of any health program must align with the constitution, the sectoral law and then be put into a protocol. Otherwise, there will be chaos!

4. CSOs are a very potent and important stakeholder. Carry them along. Transparency and community participation is impt. Not just the ones talked about by our first ladies. The ordinary people who are affected must have a sense of ownership of the program.

5. Avoid the jargon of "best practices" as what is best today, becomes surpassed tomorrow. Keep searching for better ways of doing your projects. Be innovative.

6. Integration. Ensure all facilities delivering HIV work are integrated into a common program.

7. Geographic equity important in program distribution else that region will become your achilles heel. Does that remind anyone of a region of Nigeria?

8. When you collect money for projects, do what you've been paid to do.

9. They also have a beautifully designed and integrated drug procurement system.
I will describe it a bit. Using past records and projections, the estimate is made of drugs needed for a given period. This number is shared amongst the various NGOs involved in drug purchase to procure. No NGO can bring any drug into the country without passing it through the pool. From this 'virtual pool' the various health centres draw what they need. Through a computerized system and intermittent checks, records of the various centres are checked for accurate reporting and drug level is monitored. The various centres also have access to info about drug level and utilization rate in their region... Beautiful design.

Waoh!.Hope you were not too bored with my long gist, I was simply inspired. Nigeria has a lot to learn from this.

A day like this!

Since the fall semester commenced 2 weeks ago, it's kept me on my toes to evolve new and more efficient means of allocating my limited time while focusing also on achieving better utility.
Wednesday, one of my busiest day with regards to fixed activity just passed and it was great mastering it....not an easy task though.

Below is a journal of how I spent the last 24 hours
02:00am - Slept
07:20am - Woke up, devotion (abridged), dressing up etc. I grabbed a finger of banana and yoghout cup from the fridge on my way out of the apartment which I consumed along the about 10min walk to class.
8:30am: Arrived exaectly in time for my 1st class of the day : Ethics course (Invidual and socital responsibilty for health.
10:20am: Class ended. Left for the 2nd class

10:30am: Financial transactions and Management course which lasted another 2 hours.
12:30pm: My lunch break was taken up mostly by the HSPH Africa Health Forum inaugural meeting. After the meeting, I laid down on a recliner in the students' common area and shut my eyes for about 10mins. Almost fell asleep!

1:30pm: Microeconomics course. Another 2 hours! Had some transient moments of zzzz during the class! I audit the class. But it's worth the time and added stress!
3:30pm: Society and Health, a social epidemiology course. Lovely! Nice Professor! Enjoyed he class as always. That may be why they gave him this bad slot, when everyone is likely to be tired.

Guess what it's not ended yet!

5:30 - 6:30pm Society and Health Lab.

Afterwards, I walked back home, made boiled rice, fried some plantain, warmed some cooked beans porridge taken from the freezer and warmed some stew + beef which served as dinner.
I enjoyed it.

I relaxed in the sofa reading a book I read for about 1 hour daily averagely in the last 2 weeks - "Mountains beyond Mountains - The quest of Paul Farmer".
I had decided recently to ensure I exercise almost daily in view of my ardous schedule and increased stress. So at 9:10pm I went to the Gym at the basement where I walked the threadmill for about 45mins during which I also prayed. Now getting better at using every available time alone to do this now as time becomes more and more scarce.

After a warm shower afterwards, I picked my books and left for the computerlab to do some homework. I worked through as many as I could till about 1 30am when Dim called and I spent about 30mins talking with her. It was good talking again after about 36hours!

Time is now 2:29am on Thursday. I have just returned to my apt and ready to go to bed!

Now thanks be to God who now and always, causes us to triumph and cause the savor of the knowledge of Christ to be spread through us in every place!