We at ThinkWell Institute are so excited to introduce the second cohort of the Samya Rose Stumo Memorial Fellowship for Global Health. These six outstanding young women in health are charging ahead with six unique projects with six unique visions for change. They officially began their year-long fellowship journey on September 6, 2022. Below is a snapshot of the 2022-23 fellows and what the upcoming year holds for them.
“Child bearing is the one process that not only brings joy to the mother but also to the community. However, when this joy is robbed from the mother due to obstetric fistula, this leads to suffering not only of the patient but the whole community. Putting a stop to this suffering is my mission to bring back the joy and dignity to the patients and the communities. I am very excited to join the second cohort of the Samya Rose Stumo Memorial Fellowship for Global Health to learn and grow together with other fellows from across the world.”
“With this fellowship, I aim to explore innovative and sustainable ways on how we can improve the standard of living of people with mental disabilities in the Philippines, especially in the provinces. Through the collective action of advocates, organizations, policymakers, health care professionals, and the like, I believe that we have the capacity to nurture instead of discriminate, to build up abilities beyond disabilities.
I’m truly blessed and excited to be given this opportunity to advance the rights of people with mental disabilities and revive our country’s hope towards a better and more inclusive healthcare system.
A society with inclusion and healthcare for all, a community that seeks to understand and nurture, and a country where we see individuals beyond their disabilities—isn’t all of that worth advocating for?”
“‘Pregnant women buddies’ is a project plan to empower the community through women’s health cadres. They will kindly assist local pregnant women to ensure compliance to take iron tablets and folic acid. This action aims to prevent anemia among pregnant women and malfunctioning organs among babies so it can contribute to decrease maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, and stunting cases. This project will involve health cadres and health professionals including doctors, midwives, nurses, nutritionists, and health promoters.
I am excited to get to know about how to develop a project with mentoring from experts that I’ve never had before so I have confidence that the project will be successful and bring a big impact to public health.”
“The project will focus on creating awareness and empowering women and health care workers on female genital schistosomiasis (FGS). FGS remains highly neglected, underreported, and misdiagnosed despite its serious implications for women’s reproductive health. Through the project I hope to build a community of women and girls who are educated and well informed on FGS and who can empower their peers and lead social-mobilization efforts. I also hope that data generated during the course of the project will help inform policies and interventions such as making identification and testing of FGS infections by health care workers part of routine tests in cases of suspected sexually transmitted infections.
I am most excited about learning from mentors and colleagues from ThinkWell, getting out of my comfort zone to create an impactful change to the community, and creating structures that can be adopted in other areas where FGS is endemic.”
“Poor waste management in developing countries like Bangladesh is becoming a significant threat to public health, including water-borne and vector-borne diseases. To reduce waste-related health problems, I aim to work on a project to encourage people to change their behaviors and practices concerning improper waste management through awareness-raising campaigns and capacity-building training. In addition to project activities, I am most excited to work with the ThinkWell Institute to receive mentorship on entrepreneurial skills for my career advancement and to learn from global health experts.”
“Obstetric fistula is a pathology that can affect all women regardless of their origins, cultures, and lifestyles. Enabling these women to overcome the inestimable moral burden due to social rejection requires understanding all determinants associated to the sociocultural perception of this condition.
I was very interested to join this fellowship because of ThinkWell’s culture and its strong commitment for innovation. I see ThinkWell as a world where everything is possible because of the great attention paid to creativity and humanism. I am very excited to have access to ThinkWell teams of great thinkers and to resources which will allow me to be a better public practitioner, researcher, and business leader.”