The Next Generation: Program Trains International Scholars in Global Health

Thirsty? Just turn on the faucet and fill a glass with water. In the United States, it’s easy to take necessities such as clean water for granted. But in many other countries, contaminated water is a daily public health challenge.

Edrisa Sanyang, a graduate assistant and lecturer at The University of The Gambia in Western Africa, is currently focusing his research on water contamination and clean water availability within his country, and for good reason.  Research has shown that 75 percent of all diseases are directly related to the contamination of water, and in The Gambia, clean water is not always readily available.

"Just 6.3 percent of our population has their houses connected to water," says Sanyang. "The rest of the population has to travel a long distance to get water to their houses. And during that transportation process, water is contaminated."

This is specifically the reason that Sanyang recently studied at The University of Iowa as a visiting scholar. The training program he took part in is funded by the Fogarty International Center  of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is administered by the Center for International Rural and Environmental Health (CIREH), based in the UI College of Public Health. CIREH, also funded by the NIH, is dedicated to supporting and facilitating global health research, creating and building upon connections between health research institutions here and internationally, as well as furthering the next generation of researchers that will concentrate on global health issues.

Sanyang was one of six scholars who came to the UI campus during fall 2010, and one of three that stayed here for a full semester. CIREH brings in scholars from low- to middle-income countries (as defined by the World Bank) to work for short-term (1-2 weeks), intermediate-term (full semester), and long-term (full degree). The scholars take classes, attend seminars, and get the chance to travel to conferences, such as the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting. In addition, many scholars who have gone through CIREH have published on their area of research--boosting not only their careers, but also their field of interest.

View a slideshow of activities the scholars enjoyed during their stay...

Another fall scholar, Melinda Gál, came from Romania for education involving the development of injury prevention policies.  In her home country, there is a need for the implementation of better policies, says Gál, and she is working towards creating a campaign to advance these policies. She plans to inform others of what she has learned during her time in the U.S. and apply it to the Romanian health care system. This is certainly no easy task, but through the work she is doing now as well as furthering her own research and education, she has already taken the first steps toward enacting that change.

In addition to being able to perform independent research, one of the major benefits of the program is that each scholar is assigned to a faculty mentor.  This is vital to the program and the scholars-- the availability of well-trained and credentialed professionals in the field may be lacking in many countries. At the University of The Gambia College of Public Health, for example, there is only one faculty member with a PhD.  Sanyang feels this lack of expertise needs to be changed for such countries to be developed, stating, “We must know where we are, and we must know where we are going.” 

Sanyang mentioned that the best part about being able to study at Iowa is the academic
exposure--being given access not only to resources that he otherwise would not have, but also being connected to the people who can help him further his goals. It is for this reason that the CIREH’s Fogarty program is truly advancing its mission of the betterment of research opportunities, partnerships within international research centers, and the training of tomorrow’s scientific research force. 

Story by Michael Pendergast

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