家/健康/Role models

01/09/21

Q&A: ‘Medicine has to come from the heart’

pregnant woman and nurse
Nurse providing antenatal check-up for a pregnant woman. Copyright: Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment

速度阅读

  • “非常规”的道路带领肯尼亚医生去医学
  • 医学挑战但有益的是谁全球卫生获奖者
  • Anger over maternal deaths led to new support service

By:迈克尔·卡洛基（Michael Kaloki）

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As reports grew last year that women were dying of pregnancy related complications while Nairobi was under a COVID-19 curfew, Jemimah Kariuki took to social media to offer help. This simple act led to an avalanche of support, and the emergency support line and free transport service,终生的轮子， 出生于。

Kariuki is a medical doctor, and a resident in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Kenyatta National Hospital. This year, she received the World Health Organization Director-General’s Award for Global Health. Wheels for Life has so far helped 10,000 women get medical support and arranged 2,000 taxi and ambulance trips. Kariuki hopes the service will continue long after the pandemic is over.

Kariuki博士

Dr. Jemimah Kariuki

But, Kariuki tellsSciDev.Net, she thought life was going to take her down a very different career path.

Could you tell me about your personal journey? How did you get into medicine?

我实际上以为我会成为一名律师，当我年轻的时候，我真的很想做政治，因为我对改变自己所看到的事情有着非常强烈的热情。我有一本黑皮书，我会写：“如果我在这个地区，我会做到这一点，这是……”。但是当我上高中时，我记得我的兄弟遭受了哮喘发作，我非常无助。我认为这实际上是一条非常好的道路。上帝以神秘的方式工作。我的脚上的伤口很小，我父亲正在和一些律师做某事，最终让我看着他们两个，问：‘这是我喜欢的东西吗？这是我欢迎的其他环境吗？’。beplay足球体育的微博这就是我进入药物的方式。这不是很常见的东西，但是我们在这里。

What challenges did you face on your journey into medicine?

医学是您内心要做的事情。我一直认为医学是我要奉献人类的事情，而我的生活目标一直是“我想帮助人们”。我认为我会比其他任何领域都能帮助更多的医学人。这是我回馈社会的方式，这意味着您正在做大量阅读，在医学领域进行了很多不同的实验。您以医生的身份推得很长时间。这不是一个容易的挑战，任何医生都会让您知道，这是一个艰苦的领域。但是它具有奖励，每当我看到一个怀孕的母亲和婴儿一起出去时，整个旅程都是值得的。

Tell me a little bit about Wheels for Life. How did Wheels for Life come about and what motivated you to start it?

我知道一生的轮子是来自上帝的。我非常坚定地作为信徒，当[Covid-19]大流行袭击时，它发现我在该国最大的转诊医院之一的走廊上 - 那是肯雅塔国家医院，这是内罗毕大学注册人的所在地通常做他们的学习。

That month I was in charge of the maternal mortality case follow ups. I was in the labour ward quite a bit and what I realised is that we were seeing a drop of more than 60 per cent of the patients that we normally see. And the constant question in all the medics’ minds was: Where are the patients? Because pregnancy did not stop, so where are the patients? In that whole headspace is when I went to Twitter and I was like, ‘If you need any help just let me know and I will try and help’. So when I put that tweet up, I got over 40 calls the first day. The next day. The day afterwards.

I think it was on the fourth or fifth day I was called by a woman now stranded. Some cab drivers had reached out that they wanted to help. So, I remember calling one and he travelled a good 40 kilometers to get to that patient and take them to hospital. That was our first victory, because that lady got to hospital at 3am. When they got to the ward, within 30 minutes that baby was out. And it was such a miracle, because it was a big boy — it was 4.1 or 4.2 kilograms.

终生的轮子started with a simple tweet and grew into something which has helped thousands of women. What advice would you give to other women wanting to make a difference in the field of global health?

I would tell women out there to just start. I feel that any area that makes you upset is your area of calling and I say that with so much confidence, it is because I got angry that women are dying that I was able to think about what can we do differently. I feel that [if] people would be able to respond to their area of anger and translate it to their calling, I think we can really move as a nation.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.