The Latest News from VIGH

In partnership with Lwala Community Alliance (Lwala), VIGH faculty member Troy Moon, M.D., MPH, provided mentorship to Vanderbilt medical student Sarah Heerboth to conduct a study assessing the level of knowledge of obstetric and neonatal danger signs among Community Health Workers (CHW) in rural western Kenya. Lwala centers on a community led health model, transforming traditional birth attendants into CHWs.

Mark Newton, M.D., FAAP, Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology, Director of Vanderbilt International Anesthesia, recently co-wrote an opinion piece for Devex, a media website for the global development community. The opinion piece focuses on the growing need of anesthesia providers across the world. In particular, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have the fewest number of anesthesia providers.

Sarah Heerboth, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Class of 2019 (expected), recently wrote an article reflecting on her experience working with Lwala Community Alliance in Kenya. Sarah worked at Lwala for her Integrated Science Course (ISC): Global Health, a research immersion course for third- and fourth-year medical students. 

Lwala Community Alliance is seeking a Monitoring and Evaluation Fellow. This is a year-long, stipened position based in rural Western Kenya. The M&E fellow will help with programming and conducting research in a field-based setting. Click here for more information. 

A smartphone application called mUzima, developed for healthcare workers by Vanderbilt’s Martin Were, MD, MS, and his team, is catching on in eastern Africa.

A medical team delivered a baby via cesarean section in South Sudan one night in a room lit by flashlights and cellphones. The woman lived and so did her baby. If it hadn't been for a registered nurse trained to administer anesthesia the woman might have become one more mortality statistic on a continent where needing a c-section can mean death. While women in East Africa have access to hospitals, anesthesiologists are few and far between.

For Dr. Rachel T. Idowu, her Fogarty fellowship in Africa helped her gain the skills needed to conduct research in low-income settings - skills that were immediately useful when she finished the program and began work at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Vanderbilt University has received a $3 million grant from the GE Foundation’s Developing Health Globally program to fund international medical education and research in Kenya and other low-resource regions of the world. 

Through a new documentary short film, Apple is highlighting the innovative work of Lwala Community Alliance. We couldn’t be more proud of our team in Lwala, Kenya. 

The Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health has launched the Global Health Nurse in Residence Program, a 12-week funded program in Kenya for Vanderbilt nurses.

Join us for lunch, and learn about medical students’ recent work in global health as well as future opportunities for Vanderbilt students with partner institutions in Haiti, Guyana, and Kenya.

Milton and Fred Ochieng' have been selected to receive the Peace Corps' 2012 annual Director's Award at the Franklin H. Williams Award ceremony in Washington, D.C. on September 20. The Ochieng' brothers are Vanderbilt University School of Medicine graduates and founders of the non-profit Lwala Community Alliance in Kenya, Africa. The Director's Award recognizes the brothers for their work with the Lwala Community Alliance.