Contributors: Drew Guerra, WG’22, Harrison Han, WG’22, and the WGHV Executive Board
To learn more about Drew and Harrison, click here.
The Wharton Global Health Volunteers (WGHV) made the best of a challenging 2020 – 2021 academic year in the face of significant COVID-19-related travel restrictions, as well as myriad disruptions and competing priorities for many non-profits, philanthropic organizations, and country governments. After successfully completing two projects with Uganda Village Project and the Clinton Health Access Initiative last spring, we are kicking off the 2021 – 2022 year with two new critically important and impactful projects.
First, we are teaming with Goodlife Pharmacy to improve access to pharmaceuticals in Kenya, with a focus on expanding trusted e-commerce options for patients, including those in hard-to-reach, rural communities. Our work with Goodlife culminated in a visit to their Nairobi offices in December 2021, to meet on-the-ground stakeholders, conduct site visits to better understand existing pharmacy operations, and share the WGHV team’s final readout. Wharton students, including Harrison Han, WG’22 (WGHV Co-President), Blair Seiler, WG’23 Camila Rachmanis, WG’22, Cara Kennedy-Cuomo, WG’23, Natasha Ramanujam, WG’23, and Oscar Leandro, WG’23, will be working closely with the Goodlife Pharmacy team over the next several months and are excited to learn more about a rapidly developing industry that has the potential to transform pharmaceutical access and patient outcomes in Kenya!
Next, we are kicking off a year-long project to upgrade an existing hospital system in rural western Kenya to better serve the population of Baringo county and the pastoral Pokot people living in the surrounding region. Specifically, the WGHV team is collaborating with MBA students at Strathmore University, the Order of Malta, and the Kenyan office of a global healthcare consultancy to develop a sustainable financing model for the enhanced and expanded facility, address staffing challenges, and improve transportation mechanisms and access. The Wharton student team includes Drew Guerra, WG’22 (WGHV Co-President), Ava Chang, WG’23 (WGHV VP of Project Management), Jayati Verma, WG’23, Jeremy Rubel, WG’22, Krishna Shah, WG’23, and Tejas Pathak, WG’22, and the students will travel to Nairobi and Baringo County in January to conduct a series of stakeholder interviews with the Pokot people, national and county-level health officials, NGOs, and local healthcare workers.
As is often the case when working on global health projects, the Wharton students are already getting their first taste of what it means to collaborate with team members, clients, and constituencies that are halfway across the world. Team members have already begun to enjoy 6 am calls to accommodate the seven-hour time difference and have had too many dropped Zoom calls to count on one hand. Simultaneously, the Wharton Global Health Volunteers are beginning to understand the impact their efforts can have, when deployed in tandem with the on-the-ground know-how and expertise provided by our clients and collaborators.
As Kenya continues to advance its Universal Health Coverage initiatives, even long-standing health systems have their work cut out for them as they attempt to serve the rapidly increasing population, work with government and private payors, and navigate a challenging and sometimes unpredictable supply chain for medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and critical health supplies. The Wharton Global Health Volunteers are excited to support the expansion of affordable and high-quality care in Baringo county and improve access to life-saving pharmaceuticals throughout Kenya – and we couldn’t do this without the continued generous support of the alumni community.
As always, please reach out to the WGHV Executive Board, led by Drew Guerra and Harrison Han, with any potential leads for future projects, suggestions, or to geek out about global health.
Contact Drew at: [email protected]
Contact Harrison at: [email protected]