Nursing grad student prepares
for African experience

by Mark McGowan

Mahedere Solomon, a graduate student in the NIU School of Nursing’s family nurse practitioner program, is among a team of young Americans who will visit Africa this summer to learn more about research ethics – and the work to prevent HIV.

Solomon has received a scholarship from the Minority International Research Training in Nursing Science (MIRT) program, funded by the Fogarty International Center in the Office for Research on Minority Health at the National Institutes of Health.

“This is one of my greatest opportunities to reach my goals of what I want to do. I’m in a position where I really can learn about research, about ethics and about people and cultures,” said Solomon, a native of Ethiopia who, as a young girl, moved to the San Francisco Bay area for political reasons.

“My mom is a nurse,” she added, “and it’s a profession that allows me to use some of the things I believe in, and my personality. I like to care and to advocate for people who can’t do things for themselves.”

MIRT’s purpose is to develop leaders in the field of nursing science and increase collaboration to resolve global health issues.

The program is coordinated by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Nursing to provide international research training experiences in nursing sciences for minority baccalaureate and graduate nursing students and nursing faculty mentors.

NIU’s School of Nursing is an affiliate of the UIC College of Nursing World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for International Nursing Research in Primary Health Care. Because of the NIU School of Nursing’s affiliate status, MIRT scholarship opportunities are made available to NIU nursing students.

Solomon – the first graduate student from NIU to receive a MIRT scholarship – will spend 10 weeks in Malawi, in southern East Africa. She must write a paper on her experiences upon her return.

Work for the team, which also includes students from UIC, Case Western Reserve University, Dillard University, Howard University and the University of Alabama, revolves around “several aspects of community health” to be identified later – perhaps by medical professionals in Africa based on local needs.

MIRT also is working to “build capacity” in the countries where it operates, providing resources and enabling the locals to conduct health research themselves.

According to a 2000 statistic, the country only has one doctor for every 50,000 people. The conditions in Ethiopia, Solomon’s homeland, are similar.

“I ultimately want to do something in Ethiopia,” she said. “They have a lot of health problems, and not all of it is due to resources. Some is due to policy.”

One goal is to help people who are terminally ill to die with dignity, and to help their family members become caregivers.

Another is to lessen maternal mortality. “There’s no prenatal care like here. Either they don’t have the facilities, or it’s too far for people to travel,” she said. “There are deaths during pregnancy that are absolutely preventable.”

Nursing Professor Judy Popovich, who has participated in MIRT projects before, said she is proud of Solomon’s willingness to provide care outside the United States.

“It’s really great she’s concerned about global health issues,” Popovich said. “Nurses have a lot of power to care, and a lot of power to change health in the world. If a person is going to see anybody for health reasons, often in a developing country, the greatest chance is they are going to see a nurse.”

5-3-04