Our Health Science faculty spent most of the last two days listening to research proposals from students in the second-year Master of Public Health (MPH) class. They gave good PowerPoint presentations, with students outlining reasons why they chose their topics and how they would carry out their research. The twelve proposals covered a number of pressing health issues in Africa, ranging from maternal and neonatal mortality to factors associated with HIV infection. The ultimate goal in all the research is how to make treatment and prevention of these problems more effective.
MPH Student Presentation
We have taught these students over the past three semesters, giving them the knowledge and skills they need to carry on this kind of research. Now they will carry out short-term research projects and present their final reports before the end of the semester. Their work will add to our knowledge about how best to deal with these problems in Zimbabwe. Some of their reports may be published to help other workers in the field in the future. As we listened to their proposals and suggested ways of fine-tuning their projects, I was proud of them. They have learned a great deal in the past two years and will become excellent public health practitioners.
The central picture above shows one of our MPH students giving her presentation yesterday. Two pictures below show a school-age boy in typical rural Zimbabwe setting. Ten years from now, the schoolboy could be a student at Africa University!
Cornfield by small rural village
Village schoolboy
