In public health, it is quite easy to find shortcomings and offer advice. Everyone knows what is wrong but what that matters is what is done to solve the issue.
It is not possible to solve every issues by a single person, but all that matters is whether things are better than yesterday; "a justiciable justice" as told by Amarthya Sen.
Great article. I liked the use of logic models which I have been using and advocating for many years at CDC and WHO. It is true that we face challenges and learn from acting on them. It is important to take time to reflect on them. A self evaluation, I’d say. Thanks
Thank you Dr Singer. When Parisodhana was first Funded by Grand Challenges Canada to create a non-electric warm blanket to prevent hypothermia in newborn babies, our aim was to Support A Million Premature babies with NeoWarm. As we started interacting more with Clinicians and meeting mothers of Premature babies we really wanted to see how we prevent LBW and Premature births 20-30 years from now....that helped us realize that only a healthy girl can become healthy mother of a healthy baby. We figured out, Cramps during menstruation is a major issue especially in Adolescent girls leading to school dropouts, absenteeism, early marriage, unhealthy pregnancies and PM/LBW...so we approached GCC with a plan to provide a solution using the same non-electric heating technology to alleviate menstrual Cramps !! I grew up seeing my own sister curl-up and suffer each month.....but it took couple of decades for me to create a possible solution!! Yes, many times real problems are often on a close vicinity.....
Thank you, Dr. Singer, for initiating the Global Health Insights blogs, and I am eagerly looking forward to learning from your experiences. The blog "Find a problem and solve it," is truly inspiring, especially for those of us who are new to the field. More often than not, we may have a vision of what we want to do, but circumstances beyond our control may hinder our progress (especially as a newbie). However, we must never allow the light within us to burn out, and instead, keep our goals close to our hearts and persevere, even if it means taking just one step at a time. This will allow having a clearer vision and eventually, to reach the destination.
I also agree with your insights about sharing failures without hesitation. In fact, there is a need to normalize documenting failures and view them as crucial learning opportunities. Due to authors' hesitancy to share failures, there are very few journal publications around them. Gaining insights from both successful and unsuccessful endeavors can aid in the development of strategies that are cost-effective, scalable, and have a significant impact. Failures and the processes undertaken during the journey can be highly intriguing and informative for determining the next steps. Once again, thank you for your incredible contributions to the field of global health, and I am excited to continue learning from your insights.
In public health, it is quite easy to find shortcomings and offer advice. Everyone knows what is wrong but what that matters is what is done to solve the issue.
It is not possible to solve every issues by a single person, but all that matters is whether things are better than yesterday; "a justiciable justice" as told by Amarthya Sen.
Great article. I liked the use of logic models which I have been using and advocating for many years at CDC and WHO. It is true that we face challenges and learn from acting on them. It is important to take time to reflect on them. A self evaluation, I’d say. Thanks
Thank you Dr Singer. When Parisodhana was first Funded by Grand Challenges Canada to create a non-electric warm blanket to prevent hypothermia in newborn babies, our aim was to Support A Million Premature babies with NeoWarm. As we started interacting more with Clinicians and meeting mothers of Premature babies we really wanted to see how we prevent LBW and Premature births 20-30 years from now....that helped us realize that only a healthy girl can become healthy mother of a healthy baby. We figured out, Cramps during menstruation is a major issue especially in Adolescent girls leading to school dropouts, absenteeism, early marriage, unhealthy pregnancies and PM/LBW...so we approached GCC with a plan to provide a solution using the same non-electric heating technology to alleviate menstrual Cramps !! I grew up seeing my own sister curl-up and suffer each month.....but it took couple of decades for me to create a possible solution!! Yes, many times real problems are often on a close vicinity.....
Thank you, Dr. Singer, for initiating the Global Health Insights blogs, and I am eagerly looking forward to learning from your experiences. The blog "Find a problem and solve it," is truly inspiring, especially for those of us who are new to the field. More often than not, we may have a vision of what we want to do, but circumstances beyond our control may hinder our progress (especially as a newbie). However, we must never allow the light within us to burn out, and instead, keep our goals close to our hearts and persevere, even if it means taking just one step at a time. This will allow having a clearer vision and eventually, to reach the destination.
I also agree with your insights about sharing failures without hesitation. In fact, there is a need to normalize documenting failures and view them as crucial learning opportunities. Due to authors' hesitancy to share failures, there are very few journal publications around them. Gaining insights from both successful and unsuccessful endeavors can aid in the development of strategies that are cost-effective, scalable, and have a significant impact. Failures and the processes undertaken during the journey can be highly intriguing and informative for determining the next steps. Once again, thank you for your incredible contributions to the field of global health, and I am excited to continue learning from your insights.
Very relevant thoughts. Thank you for sharing your insights