In April 2024, Debbie Morgan, a Visiting Fellow in Global Health from Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) and Dr. Honey Brandy Frimpong-Manso, a Foundation Year 2 Doctor from The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, visited Kenya as part of the Kakamega Cambridge Health Partnership, Global Health Workforce Programme. Their visit focused on supporting and strengthening continuous quality improvement (QI) efforts within maternity and newborn care teams in Kakamega County.
Passion for change in my home country inspired me to get involved in global health.
Dr Honey Brandy Frimpong-Manso
The visit aimed to collaborate with clinicians and administrative staff from Kakamega County General Teaching and Referral Hospital (KCTRH)’s maternity and newborn care department, as well as senior leaders from the hospital, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) School of Medicine, and the County health department. The objective was to gather sufficient quantitative and qualitative data to determine the focus area for a comprehensive QI project. The UK team shared insights into QI initiatives at CUH, emphasising the development of QI capability and capacity-building programmes in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
“This project is special because they are already a hard-working dedicated team with quality improvement and training already ongoing, so it is nice to start from a place of building on what is already going on rather than from nothing,” explains Honey.
Debbie brought a wealth of expertise to the project, including strategic healthcare leadership, advanced knowledge in quality improvement (QI), communication, programme management, and mentoring/coaching skills. Honey, primarily serving as an education fellow, focused on supporting the training needs of the project while contributing to all other aspects (such as stakeholder engagement and facilitation of needs assessments) of the initiative. This collaborative approach provided a thorough understanding of the local context, strengthened partnerships, and laid the groundwork for sustainable improvements. “The experience has reinforced for me what is important in life, including the importance of relationships, appreciating what we have around us and taking opportunities presented to us,” explains Debbie.
Working on this project and visiting Kakamega offered a valuable opportunity for reciprocal learning, where both Debbie and Honey gained meaningful insights, not only from their own contributions but also from the experiences of those they collaborated with. This visit provided them with valuable lessons on adaptability and the importance of making the most of the resources available.
The visit reminded me to be creative and not forget my original passion for medicine. Meeting such passionate people and seeing how much they wished they could do if they had the resources, made me realise not to take the resources I have available for granted.
Interested in participating in global health but not sure where to begin? Find out about the support, advice and funding CGHP offers you or email us at info@cghp.org.uk.
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