Executive Summary
This summer my CHS 400 internship took place in Windhoek, Namibia for the Namibian chapter of IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), also known as NAPPA (Namibian Planned Parenthood Association). NAPPA is a registered welfare organization, meaning it is a nonprofit, nongovernmental and voluntary institution, functioning at both the office and clinical levels. My work was performed under the direction of preceptors Denise Moongo (programs manager) and Beauty Kwenda (head clinic nurse).
The objectives of my internship were to help the underserved rural community of Katutura address the issues of disparity in maternal and child health. My work focused on Millennium Development Goals 3 (promote gender equality and empower women), 5 (improve maternal health), and 6 (combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases). Specifically from 7/7/2010-9/17/2010, I assisted in the implementation of health education sessions, development of educational materials, designed and adopted questionnaires regarding efficacy of the health education and services offered within the clinical setting, as well as streamlined data collection.
HIV/AIDS affects over 20% of the population, and the main focus of my work was to not only address this issue, but to integrate it with other prominent sexual and reproductive health problems that are usually co-morbid with poverty, such as gender based violence, and unsafe abortion.
Specifically in terms of health education, discussions were held in the waiting areas of family planning and antenatal care clinics, with topics varying, depending upon the day of the week. Adopted from previous NAPPA curriculum, we addressed overall sexual and reproductive health in terms of: family planning, STI transmission, emergency contraception, unsafe abortion, and general sexual health. The discussion of HIV/AIDS was integrated with general sexual and reproductive health, with a focus on the explanation of disease, its transmission, treatment, and prevention. By integrating services we hoped to increase the potential for access and coverage for all, regardless of HIV status.
The final educational project I addressed was adapted from a South African pilot discussing gender based violence, which was presented at both family planning and antenatal care clinics. In addition to community-based educational sessions, I worked to develop fliers for distribution within the clinic as well as a national level.
Throughout the term of my internship, data collection was a constant: from registering daily clients to the implementation of designed questionnaires (pre- and post- test evaluations of knowledge), to an overall process evaluation of the staff and clinic. Overall this internship had a positive impact on the community, as we saw increased rates of access, from both youth (accessing family planning) and adults (accessing family planning and antenatal care), and increased knowledge of HIV/AIDS and other STI prevention (60-85%). We also saw an increase in awareness of gender based violence (from 40% to 75%).
Soraya Boumediene
Dr. Osman Galal
September 2010