The GK Fellows for 2007 are:
Return to Fellowship Introduction page
Lydia Abala
Lydia works with internally displaced persons in Northern Uganda specialising in providing psychosocial support to traumatised children. She has studied development studies, counselling and child psychotherapy and community empowerment.
The focus of Lydia's project work during her fellowship will be on gender relations and health in Bangladesh. She will trace the ways gender relations shape health outcomes and seek to identify and learn from the places and settings where there is movement towards more equal gender relations. She will document case studies of interventions seeking to address unequal gender relations and draw out the lessons for policy and practice from these case studies.
Lydia is hoping that the outcomes of her fellowship will prove useful to PHM Bangladesh and PHM globally in terms of delineating principles and strategies for addressing gender inequality in relation to health and suggesting next steps in progressing practice and understanding in this field.
John Mahama
John works with NGOs in Ghana, specialising in the field of reproductive health rights. He has studied community nutrition, global health, community development and a range of related topics.
The focus of John's fellowship project is on development assistance in health. He will assemble a description of current and recent patterns of development assistance in the health sector in Bangladesh and in other sectors in terms of implications for health. From published commentary and drawing upon the People's Charter for Health, he will put together a set of draft principles which should be expressed in development assistance for health and will examine the Bangladesh experience against these principles.
John is hoping that the outcomes of his project will prove useful to PHM Bangladesh and to PHM globally in terms of articulating a clear set of principles for development assistance in health which may be used in policy advocacy and as criteria for evaluating development assistance for health in other settings.
Joni Quamruzzaman
Joni is a Bangladeshi medical graduate currently enrolled in public health training.
The focus of Joni's project is on decision-making at the family and village level regarding delivery options during late pregnancy and early labour in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a relatively high maternal mortality but policies for ensuring access to appropriate care in complicated cases are contested. Joni is hoping that this study of decision making dynamics at the village level will throw light on policy and practice for safe motherhood.
Marieke Vantieghem
Marieke is a PHM activist from Belgium where she works as a volunteer with Intal. She has studied economics, modern languages, criminology and development studies and has worked in a range of settings in the NGO sector.
Marieke will undertake two projects in the course of her GK fellowship. She will work with PHM Bangladesh to review current communications arrangements across PHM Bangladesh and will undertake training and website development work to address the priority needs identified. Marieke will also undertake consultations within GK as part of a review of information and communications systems at GK and prepare a discussion paper exploring priorities and options for infrastructure development at GK in this field.
Marieke is hoping that the results of her fellowship will contribute to strengthening PHM Bangladesh, through more effective communications arrangements, and assisting GK to clarify its IT development needs.
Learning opportunities for GK paramedics
The four fellows will also work with the senior health workers at GK to design and put in place a training program for GK paramedics, focusing on English, public health and the social determinants of health.
Final GK Fellowship Workshop, 8-10 February 2008
