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Alison Hager: A Day in the Life of a Global Health Fellow

Alison Hager works as a Manager in the Corporate Controller’s Financial Controls Team at Pfizer. Stationed in Rwanda for 6 months, she worked with the Access Project at Columbia University's Earth Institute and the Rwandan Ministry of Health to build capacity by implementing management systems for health care on all levels. To this project, Alison brought her project and change management skills as well as her experience in research, problem solving, analysis and consensus building.

“I won't deny that living in a developing country has more than its share of frustrations, but the experiences and lessons have been invaluable. My world view has certainly been forever altered.”

“No matter how difficult, indeed how insurmountable, the problems sometimes seem, they can be overcome when met with compassion, intelligence, management, funding and a vision for a better world.”

“On the bad days, when the frustrations seem too many and the challenges too hard, you remember the malnourished child who just wanted to hold your hand, or the woman who had to wait for 36 hours to have desperately needed surgery, or Samson, the young boy who needs heart surgery and will probably never get it, but who unfailingly greets you with a big smile.And they make it all worth it. The struggle and the frustration and the slow progress recede into the background to become just part of the process. And as tormentingly slow as change is in coming, it is coming. And when it does, it is these people who will benefit in the most basic, but most profound, ways. And that makes all the difference.”

— from the journal of Alison Hager

Early Morning: After getting ready for the day, step outside into the beautiful tropical garden that is the front yard of "home" on the dirt road of Rue de Bugarama. Take a taxi or walk with a colleague to the Access Project office in Kigali.

Mid-Morning: Meet with local leaders and hospital administrators in a local district to begin assessing the district's major barriers to health care access. Throughout Rwanda, these include a shortage of qualified medical personnel as well as constant stock outs of critical medicines and in the most severe cases a lack of running water or electricity.

Early Afternoon: Work with colleagues to develop a plan for the implementation of a drug supply management system at a district hospital. The system will help to ensure the availability of medicines to keep up with patient trends like skyrocketing cases of malaria each summer. Work will also go into designing and implementing a better inventory management system for timely stock reviews, increased safety stock, and internal controls.

Mid-Afternoon: Sit down for a two-hour language tutoring session with Issa, a Rwandan teacher. In a country where many meetings are conducted entirely in French or the native language of Kinyarwanda, gaining a functional understanding of these languages is imperative.

Evening: Join two friends and colleagues for a weekly "French" dinner during which everyone speaks only in French — set up for some extra language practice over a relaxing meal.

Before Bed: Write a quick journal entry and get ready for Saturday's trip to a local orphanage to spend time visiting with the young children.

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