Countdown: 2 days until departure

In two days I'll be setting out on a month visit to Iganga, Uganda.  I'm going back to this beautiful town because of an opportunity of a lifetime.  I recieved a Wisconsin Idea Undergraduate Fellowship Grant to fund a infant mortality research project I designed.  The goal of the project is to lower infant mortality rates at Iganga District Hospital and will do so by implementing a postnatal education program provided to mothers before they are discharged from the hospital (from giving birth).  This project is aiming specifically to the deaths that occur during the first week of life.

Not to bore you too much, but here are the logistics of the project:  It will be completed in three phases.  First I will be observing what sort of infant mortality tracking the hospital has in place in addition to learning the postnatal care provided now.  After this, a member of the hospital staff (most likely a midwife) and myself will sit down with each mother who has given birth within the last 24 hours and administer an assessment questionaire to determine the mother's current knowledge.  This will guide us to areas of needed education and allow for an assessment of our own teaching skills to see if the mothers retained information.  Then the education will be given which will consist of proper breastfeeding techniques, kangaroo care (warming of the infant), danger signs to look for in the infant, etc.  The same assessment questionaire will be administered after to determine if learning occured.  And finally a baby hat made by wonderful women in the States (shout out to my mom, grandma, Sue, Carol Curtis, and her fellow employees!) to help keep the infants warm.  And finally to track if the project is actually making a difference, contact with the mothers will be made one week after the educational intervention to determine the health status of their baby.

All of this is expected to happen within one month (a push I know!, especially with the laid back culture of Uganda.).  I will be staying with Michael Kaidhiwa and his family, who was my past internship coordinator when I participated in a medical internship at Iganga Hospital in 2009 and had helped immensely with the project proposal.  I will also be working with Dr. Peter Waiswa, a fantastic person for mentoring me on this project who has also completed much infant mortality research in Uganda.

That's about it for now!  I will update this blog when I have access to internet.  Thanks for following!