Closer to the finish line...

Hello Everyone!

It’s a damp, restful Monday here in Lagos, Nigeria.. one of those Mondays you don't 'hate'!. 

Today, is a public holiday as we commemorate “Democracy day” in my country - the day Nigeria officially transitioned from a military government to a democratic government in 1999.  Also, I totally embrace the refreshing rainy seasons that are now finally here, it's been providing us with intermittent cool weather to balance the intensity of the sun.

So, I am excited to be completing my full Masters coursework this upcoming June. I just completed “Global Aid” last week and I am currently undertaking the final coursework “Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI)”. STI marks the end of my taught courses and my second year as an ODL Masters student at The University of Edinburgh. I would thereafter proceed to my research project which is already in discussions with my course coordinators.

Global Aid was a great course for me as it involved a lot of intellectual exposure outside my core area of interest in Global/Public Health. We were introduced to the current global aid models and we tackled various controversies (with good reasons) surrounding the current global aid models especially in developing countries. A lot of issues were debated upon – Has aid really been effective in its work goals? Should aid really continue? What are the more effective and viable alternatives to global aid that would have real impact on global sustainable development? Or how can aid delivery be better and more effective to reaching the people that really need them? These and many more issues were debated at length in our discussions as we utilized evidence-based information and drew experiences from our professional lives and respective countries. This was indeed intellectually stimulating and I am glad I undertook the course. 

Another funny story about the course though. As some of us may be aware, my country has been undergoing some financial and economic crisis in the last few months due to consistently falling global oil prices, government removal of fuel subsidy, increased fuel scarcity and fuel hike, subsequent poor power supply nationwide and other consequent issues. Anyway, these issues have had direct and indirect effects on everyone. So, inadvertently, the power/fuel scarcity issues has greatly affected my study time and ability to submit my essay assignments on time. So, for my final course essay for Global Aid, I submitted a little beyond the stipulated and immediately notified my course coordinator of my circumstance. I was given a “special circumstance” form to fill and this would be considered by exam coordinators to determine if late submission penalties would be implemented for me or not. So, I’m glad it has been resolved to an extent and I look forward to a positive outcome from the “special circumstance”.

So with my current course - “Sexually transmitted diseases”, I am looking forward improving my understanding of the subject. I have some considerable experience and interest in this course as I have been co-running a social impact project (called Project AHEAD) in adolescent health education in my community for about 2 years now. A key part of what we do in this project is to promote education and advocacy on sexual health issues. Therefore, I intend to expand my horizon greatly on this course and learn as much as I can that I can implement directly to my work here.

Before I round up on this, I must appreciate the support that I have gotten from the various relevant departments at The University of Edinburgh and from my ODL colleagues since I last announced my the inception of my blog - MyAnimal,MyHealth. I am committed to working in my capacity to promote global health and this support has greatly encouraged me in this regard.

Thank you all!

.... And until next time!