Where do I even start blogging? For the past few weeks I have been to the worst of the remote areas in Malawi; trying to identify eye cases of Trachoma .Trachoma is the oldest reported eye infectious disease (reported during the ancient Egyptian times); that causes acute conjunctivitis which if not properly treated can lead to long term consequences like problems with eye sight and complete loss of vision.
I have been commissioned by National Prevention of Blindness Committee and the Ministry of Health to find out whether Trachoma is still a significant public health problem as defined by the World Health Organisation. My role as the Principal Investigator is to coordinate this big study in Malawi .In order to do this I have recruited a total research team of 30 people (10 vehicles) and organised a one week training where participants will be taught how to conduct this research. Most participants are Ophthalmic Clinical officers; and I have taken all of them from Nsanje to Chitipa. In addition I have engaged senior personnel as supervisors (Programme Manager and Lectures) have also engaged the College of Medicine Research support Centre to back me up with data management.
Will all these people and a budget of over USD 50,000 you can see why I have been missing from the blog site. Infact I have had very little sleep since May when I started seriously preparing for this research.
Today I am blogging from the Malawi –Zambian border; the Mchinji border and I am just facing Chipata .Well; why am I here? I want to find out whether Trachoma is still a problem in this area.
Next time you want to visit any place in Mchinji ; Email me!
No comments:
Post a Comment