This Ghanaian cooperative balances malaria research and hospital work

In addition to wanting to work in her family’s home country, Fiattor was drawn to these cooperatives after studying the lessons of global health leaders in the classroom and learning the importance of gaining firsthand experience working with working in public health.

“I thought, instead of doing research here and looking at things from a distance, why not see it with my own eyes?” said the third-year biology student. ‘I’ve always been someone who… likes to see things for myself.’

At Noguchi Memorial, Fiattor worked on extracting DNA from several blood samples of people who tested negative for malaria to see if they got a false negative on their test and to see what type of malaria they had if they had a false negative. The aim was to determine the efficacy of the malaria test kits the patients used.

During her days at the hospital, Fiattor spent time observing doctors as they worked with pregnant patients and performed surgeries.

“What struck me was the emphasis on health education,” Fiattor said. “It wasn’t just telling your patient, ‘This is what’s going on and this is what you need to do.’ It’s basically working with your patient… (and) giving them the responsibility to decide what they want to do. It was more of a partnership.”

Although Fiattor had previously spent time in Ghana, living and working there gave her a better idea of ​​what daily life can be like. This also includes dealing with occasional power outages, including a power outage that has occurred during an operation. Fiattor saw how the staff reacted: they turned on their phone flashlights and continued the operation without missing a single second.

“There’s a unique perspective you get from working in the hospitals and seeing things for yourself,” she said. “I got a sense of what it’s like to be a local.”

Fiattor’s work showed her two different sides of the public health world and helped her refine her focus as she prepared for her career. She hopes to work in a hospital setting with a plan to transition into health policy in the future.

“I’m currently applying to medical school and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” Fiattor said. “But my experience was the stepping stone I needed. It was a defining moment of, ‘Okay, yeah, this is what I want to do, especially in the hospital.’ I have worked with highly driven and passionate physicians, clinicians, staff and nurses who essentially dedicate their entire lives to caring for the population. It went beyond just treating it, but actually having a personal relationship with your patient.”