An eloquent (clear, expressive, to the point) grant-writing journey questions| Mintesnot Teni
My grant writing “Why” is closely tied with why I wanted to have a career as a public health professional. Three significant experiences made me interested in public health.
The first of these experiences was during my undergraduate study. One of the course requirements during my undergraduate study was a community-based training program (CBTP). On this course, as a group of ten students, we were assigned to one of the rural neighborhoods for eight weeks. Our responsibility is to identify the health-related problems of the community and recommend a possible solution. Due to the lack of infrastructure and overall coordination of the organizers, we failed to achieve our objectives. However, individually, it helps me to realize how important public health is for communities living in a rural area of a developing country. The lack of health facilities and even in the available health facilities, there were only a few qualified health care professionals.
In the community, the health-related problems were well documented; the housing condition and waste disposal were terrible, underage marriage for girls was widespread, girls give birth at a very early age, and immunization status was meager. As Ethiopia is a developing country, these problems are noticeable in cities like where I grew up, but the extent of the issues in the rural areas was extreme. Public health studies could have easily identified these problems, and public health interventions could have played a significant role in preventing these problems. However, there were limited public health professionals in Ethiopia. This made me determined to study public health.
The second experience has also happened during my undergraduate studies. As a team of different health professionals, we were assigned to a rural community to provide health service and health education. We carried out voluntary counseling and testing for people who come for an HIV test. In addition, provided family planning and contraceptive options for reproductive-aged women, and designed community health promotion programs which were aimed at addressing the fundamental health and social obstacles the community faced. These obstacles mainly included HIV/AIDS, communicable diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and pregnancy complications. We noticed certain small but gratifying gestures among the community.
This experience has solidified my interest in public health. While my previous experience helps me in identifying public health related problem, this experience makes aware of the possible public health interventions I could provide as a public health professional. Even though we were only there for twelve weeks, it was clear to see how our health education changes the attitude of some of the community members. In addition, through this experience, I was also able to understand the importance of teamwork in public health.
My final experience led me to focus on sexual and reproductive health. This experience happened while I was working at a hospital in the Maternal and child health unit. In this department, the service we provide includes family planning and abortion. As this was in a university city, we see many female students coming for an abortion service. The number of female students coming for this service was shockingly high. Family planning services, which easily could have prevented this situation, were not provided in the university at the time. Furthermore, the situation also highlights the importance of sex education for students. This experience increases my eagerness to work in the area of sexual and reproductive health.
These experiences have led me to study epidemiology for my masters and start my Ph.D. in public health at Saint Louis University. I believe via public health, I have a chance to contribute to my community. However, to put my visions of improving the sexual and reproductive health of the underserved population into work, I need to have the funds, that is why I want to write grants. Grant writing provides a unique opportunity to work on my ideas independently. Furthermore, as I described earlier, teamwork is essential in any public health intervention. Grant writing will offer an opportunity to collaborate with other accomplished public health professionals.
This grant writing course is my first experience in grant writing. Before this course, I always thought that it is not possible to write a grant before finishing my PhD. Since the start of this course, I have already learned a lot, and my interest in grant writing is growing up. Doing research that makes a positive impact on peoples´ health is what drives my motivation for a scientific career, and I believe grant writing will play a major role in this.
