Expanding the scope of medical mission volunteer groups to include a research component

Abstract

BackgroundServing on volunteer groups undertaking medical mission trips is a common activity for health care professionals and students. Although volunteers hope such work will assist underserved populations, medical mission groups have been criticized for not providing sustainable health services that focus on underlying health problems. As members of a volunteer medical mission group, we performed a bed net indicator study in rural Mali. We undertook this project to demonstrate that volunteers are capable of undertaking small-scale research, the results of which offer locally relevant results useful for disease prevention programs. The results of such projects are potentially sustainable beyond the duration of a mission trip.MethodsVolunteers with Medicine for Mali interviewed 108 households in Nana Kenieba, Mali during a routine two-week medical mission trip. Interviewees were asked structured questions about family demographics, use of insecticide treated bed nets the previous evening, as well as about benefits of net use and knowledge of malaria. Survey results were analyzed using logistic regression.ResultsWe found that 43.7% of households had any family member sleep under a bed net the previous evening. Eighty seven percent of households owned at least one ITN and the average household owned 1.95 nets. The regression model showed that paying for a net was significantly correlated with its use, while low perceived mosquito density, obtaining the net from the public sector and more than four years of education in the male head of the household were negatively correlated with net use. These results differ from national Malian data and peer-reviewed studies of bed net use.ConclusionsWe completed a bed net study that provided results that were specific to our service area. Since these results were dissimilar to peer-reviewed literature and Malian national level data on bed net use, the results will be useful to develop locally specific teaching materials on malaria prevention. This preventive focus is potentially more sustainable than clinical services for malaria treatment. Although we were not able to demonstrate that our work is sustainable, our study shows that volunteer groups are capable of undertaking research that is relevant to their service area.

Medical Mission to Haiti

“…For those that need daily medication, such as anti-hypertensives, the goal is that the church or community leaders can assist them in receiving follow up care for the conditions. Those patients identified were provided with written referrals for follow up care to be arranged with the community leaders [7][8][9][10].…”

Altababa medical volunteer group mission to Almanagil hospital, Sudan: new ideas for long-term partnership, success factors and guidelines for other groups

“…Personal reflections of volunteers suggest that those who serve on medical missions view their experience positively and find it personally rewarding (1)(2)(3). Although volunteers hope such work will assist underserved populations, medical mission groups have been criticized for not providing sustainable health services that focus on underlying health problems (3).…”

“…In most cases, volunteer groups return to the same area annually to provide short-term services. Estimates of the efforts expended by volunteer groups suggest that the United States alone has over 500 mission organizations that send up to 6000 mission trips per year (1).…”

“…Members of volunteer groups commonly include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, other health professionals and students. In 2005, there were as many as 5000 health volunteers working in sub-Saharan Africa alone, 1500 of whom were physicians (1). Volunteer groups frequently comprise members of religious or civic groups who have an interest in health in the developing world.…”

Global Health Education in Doctor of Pharmacy Programs

“…5 Additional opportunities are available for pharmacists in global health research and policy development. 5,6 To sustainably collaborate and contribute to these global health opportunities, pharmacists and pharmacy students need to have the proper background and training; 5 yet, no published papers comprehensively examine curricular content related to global health in US pharmacy programs. [7][8][9] The purpose of this Review is to characterize the current content and scope of global health in US doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) programs.…”