- Our next speaker is a senior
technical advisor for VillageReach.
VillageReach is also a scoll awardee
and works to increase healthcare access
to under served communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
On top of all that, she is actually our first leader
that's a doctor, so everyone please
give a warm welcome for Bvudzai.
(audience clapping)
- Thanks, Aaron for that introduction.
Hi, everyone.
So I grew up on a farm in rural Zimbabwe,
a farm that my parents owned.
And it wasn't unusual for, you know,
my parents every time, and again, to take
one of the farmworkers to the nearest health center.
Someone had an emergency, a lady got
into premature labor, for example.
Or something else happened.
They either had to take someone to a health center
or arrange for someone to take a sick farm worker.
And so for me, I was always aware from an early age
that there are some people who are disadvantaged
either by their geographical location,
or by other factors, who do not have access to health care.
And so when I launched my career into global public health,
I naturally was interested in the issues of access,
and so I started working on various issues on access
to health services, access to medicines, and so forth.
Eight weeks, nine weeks actually, ago,
I got a reminder of this experience
that I lived through as a young child.
I was in Congo doing some work
because our organization works there.
And our team in Congo was called to an emergency meeting
because the health facilities were
stocked out of vaccines for children.
And so we went for this evening,
for this meeting one evening,
we came up with an interim solution and we were all pleased.
And so we walked out of the place feeling satisfied,
and as we were preparing to leave and walking in the dark,
I stepped into a water drain, and so I injured my right leg.
I was rushed to the nearest health center,
I got some care, but they told me
that they don't have an x-ray machine.
And probably I might get an x-ray machine
somewhere else, the following day.
And so the following day, the search started
for a place to get an x-ray.
The first place we were told, they have a machine,
but they're out of x-ray film.
The second place we were told, the technician
also broke his hand and is out of town.
And so we were left with one more place,
we arrived there with a sense of desperation,
and the technician said, yes I can help you.
That was a sense of relief.
And so he said, but we use car
batteries to start our x-ray machine.
And so they tried on two of their car batteries
and the machine wouldn't start.
So they asked to use our car battery,
and we gave it to them.
The x-ray machine started, and at least that was a relief.
The technician did what they do and took an x-ray
and we sat there for awhile, maybe two hours,
and we got the x-ray film back.
I took the x-ray film to the doctors,
it was a group of about four doctors.
They said with this x-ray machine,
with this x-ray that I'm holding right here,
and they said, unfortunately such poor quality,
we can't even see what happened. (laughs)
There was no other option for me in
that area to get another x-ray.
The next flight out of that place
was four days after my injury.
So despite efforts to get me out of that place,
nothing worked, so I waited for those four days.
And then flew out of there and got better medical care.
So why do I care about the things that I care about.
This experience actually reminded me that
the issue of access, although it has been spoken about
for so long is still very much real.
I couldn't get access to care,
although I had some money in my pocket.
Not everybody can make three or
four trips until they get healthcare.
For some people, if they don't service once, that's it.
And so the work that we do at VillageReach,
inspires me that our mission is to save lives
and to ensure that the most disadvantaged
gets access to quality healthcare.
I had an x-ray but the quality was poor.
So it's about accessing the service,
and it's about the quality of the service.
And those are the things that we care about.
There are a couple of other lessons
that I learned from this experience.
The first thing for me was that
we're probably working in the right area
because this is an area where it's really
hard to get any kind of service.
And so for me that was, that gave me a sense of reassurance
that we're actually working in the right place.
The other issue that came to my mind
as a health systems and policy researcher,
was really around how we measure progress.
And I know that as social entrepreneurs, we have indicators,
whatever measures we use to measure progress.
And I was thinking as I was in that place,
what does success look like in this place?
And it reminded me that success,
yes the measurements are important,
but the context is more so very important.
Because what you do in one place,
if you do the very same thing in another place,
you can get very different results.
And so I started thinking because we have,
sort of, just launched our work D'arcy it's not
as old as the other places where we've worked.
I thought that you probably need to put two or three times
more effort to get success in this area.
And I think it's important for all of us
as we reflect on our successes and as we look
at those indicators that we care about,
that we don't just look at how many, how many, and how many.
That we actually take into account
the context in which we're working
because everything that we do has a story behind it.
The other final lesson that I learned from that experience
was how the health system is really fragmented.
I had just concluded a meeting to address
another public health challenge because
the health facilities were stocked out
of vaccines for children.
And yet when I was now looking for an x-ray service,
the health facility was also stocked out of x-ray films.
So for me this kind of fragmentation where
we're each interested in particular issues
and, sort of, forgetting the person as a whole, that the
same person who requires a vaccines for their child is the
same person who requires an x-ray when they get injured.
And I was thinking, how can the
health system better serve the people?
We need a more integrated system which is holistic
and can serve the interest of the people as a whole.
And so this is way I urge everybody who is here today,
that the issue of access is still very real.
And this reflection that I had made me realize that
I am advantaged in many ways and that other people
still need better access to healthcare, thank you.
(audience clapping)
- You did so well, give me a hug.
Oh shoot, sorry.