In the morning, we started off by meeting with the medical research unit of Masanga, and we met two female researchers from Europe. One was a medical doctor from the Netherlands pursuing her PhD, who was currently in Africa to do fever-related research. The other woman was a medical student from Germany who was focusing her research on the correlation between Sickle Cell Disease and bacterial infections. She used HemotypeSC devices to test individuals in randomly selected households for sickle cell disease. Then, she would swab their nostrils and test for the presence of bacteria. She said as of now, there was no significant correlation between sickle cell disease and bacterial presence, but she has only been in Sierra Leone for 2 weeks and plans to gather another 7 months-worth of data. She even demonstrated the whole procedure to us from start to finish. We were able to see her data collection, charts, graphs, and other information she had gathered. It was very insightful to learn about what they know about sickle cell disease and to hopefully build a future partnership with them.
Following engaging conversations with researchers from Germany and the Netherlands, our journey brought us to the Tonkolili District College Of Health Science in Masanga. Our welcome was orchestrated by the head of administration who gracefully facilitated our introduction to two prominent educators.
The first educator, possessing dual roles as a midwife nurse, emphasized that her expertise was centered around basic nursing courses rather than advanced medical subjects. Even though her teaching purview was different from our primary focus, she enriched our understanding with her dual experience as a nurse and an educator. The nuances of educational structures, both theoretical and practical, became clearer. Notably, she shared her first-hand experience with a Sickle cell disease patient, offering us a glimpse into its real-world management.
Our next interaction was with a well-versed educator specializing in physiology and anatomy. His deep understanding of the disease and its academic framework was invaluable. He illuminated the curriculum specifics, his educational methodology, and even offered to share a few of his lecture slides. The cherry on top was his kind gesture, granting us access to interview students post their exams, promising further insights.
Wrapping up the teacher interviews, we had some time to kill until the students were done with their exams. We asked Alfa, an administrator at Masanga Hospital, if he would tour us around the lab. To get to the lab, we walked through the patient intake hall, and we could not help but marvel at the beautiful murals that lined the walls.
Passing on to the lab, we entered into a small intermediary room that eventually opened up into a long hallway. Along this hallway were various sections all allocated to different types of investigation. There was a microscopy bench, urinalysis bench, an entire room dedicated to microbiology, and more! It was the most extensive lab we have seen here to date.
Leaving the medical lab, we were brought to the physiotherapy lab. Here, we saw anatomy dummies, walking bars, and other rehabilitation equipment. We were also informed that there were only 5 physiotherapists in all of Sierra Leone, but the Masanga nursing school was planning on graduating a class of at least 20 physiotherapists in the next few years.
After we exited the physiotherapy lab, the nursing students had just finished up their first exam and we were able to interview a few of them. In order to cover more ground, the group split up into two. Jake and Hamsa took a couple students while Norman and Chibugo interviewed others. We were especially grateful that the students made time for us after taking such a long exam. They had another exam to take shortly after the interviews were over as well and the interviews as a whole were kept short as a result. We spoke to 6 students in total, all of which were third year nursing students studying at the Masanga Nursing School. It was great to interact with the nursing students and see how passionate about healthcare and how close to achieving their goals they all were.