Daniel Yeboah-Kordieh, 2014, Chemistry

Daniel Yeboah-Kordieh ’14

Interested in learning more about public health delivery, I spent two months ­interning with Liberia’s National Malaria Control Program. I participated in a weeklong ­training program about malaria for nurses and also sat in at various public health ­policy ­setting and evaluation meetings. I also worked with the Clinton Health Access ­Initiative in ­Monrovia, the Montserrado County Health Pharmacist’s Office and Derek ­Willis, a ­researcher at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, to create a digital map of all health facilities in Montserrado County of Liberia. This map will be used for future ­research and monitoring work by various health organizations in Monrovia. In ­addition, I had an on–the-ground experience of public health delivery by travelling with a team to ­assist with monitoring and evaluation of mosquito net distribution and ­insecticide ­spraying programs in very remote areas of Liberia. This internship taught me a great deal about malaria and other tropical diseases. It also taught me more about the complexities inherent in tackling them, and cost-effective prevention and ­treatment techniques that have been adopted to suit the culture and low-income status of developing countries like Liberia, Ghana, and Ethiopia.