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December 20th, 2022   |   Africa, SIT Study Abroad

In summer 2022, Carnegie Mellon University neuroscience major Isabel Brum joined SIT Kenya: Public Health in the Tropics. She talks about her experience in this story, which was originally posted on CMU's . It is reprinted here with permission.

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By Amy Pavlack Laird

A philosophy class changed Isabel Brum鈥檚 perception of public health.

鈥淲e read a paper about how we should see public health as something that deals with human rights instead of seeing it as an extension of the medical field because you鈥檙e dealing with people鈥檚 education, secure access to food, water, healthcare, all these things. So public health is really a human rights issue,鈥� said the Carnegie Mellon University senior who took the course Health, Human Rights and International Development. 鈥淎nd that just changed something in me.鈥�

Brum was inspired to explore more of the public health field. She spent the summer interning at a hospital in Kisumu, Kenya, learning about HIV care and the social determinants of health that impact people鈥檚 quality of life in western Kenya.

Public health is really a human rights issue.

鈥淚 wanted to do field work, not just sitting in class and learning the theory about a topic. I wanted to actually talk with people, interact with people,鈥� said Brum, who is pursuing a major in and an additional major in .

She spent seven weeks in Kisumu, Kenya鈥檚 third largest city, as part of the 91精品鈥檚 Public Health in the Tropics program. She was drawn to Kenya because of the program鈥檚 emphasis. Brum is from Puerto Rico.

I wanted to do field work, not just sitting in class and learning the theory about a topic. I wanted to actually talk with people, interact with people.

鈥淎 lot of issues that affect Kenya can also affect Puerto Rico. I was very interested in comparing how both places deal with public health,鈥� she said.

Brum spent her mornings shadowing clinicians at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, primarily working with patients with HIV, including pregnant women who are receiving treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission. In the afternoons, she attended Swahili classes and worked on her research project analyzing data from the hospital鈥檚 central registries to see if the COVID-19 pandemic affected HIV care in Kenya.

鈥淚 definitely learned a lot about HIV and AIDS and the struggles different communities face,鈥� Brum said, realizing that 鈥渢o actually get rid of HIV, you would have to empower women and educate women, empower the economy, all of these things. So, it very much touched on the human rights side of public health.鈥� 

Meeting people from different parts of the world is helpful but actually going and being there with the community that you鈥檙e working with, I mean, it鈥檚 priceless to be able to do something like that.

Brum and the other students in her program explored Kenya and neighboring countries on weekends. One of the most memorable excursions was to the Maasai Mara National Reserve, an area of savannah wilderness in southwestern Kenya famous for its lions, cheetahs, elephants and zebras. Brum鈥檚 group also visited Uganda, where they spent the weekend in the city of Jinja. There they saw the source of the Nile and kayaked the legendary river.  

Her experience in Kenya has solidified Brum鈥檚 plans to pursue a career in public health, although now she鈥檚 considering global public health.

鈥淚 think this experience has just helped me change my perspective,鈥� Brum said. 鈥淢eeting people from different parts of the world is helpful but actually going and being there with the community that you鈥檙e working with, I mean, it鈥檚 priceless to be able to do something like that.鈥�

Brum鈥檚 time in Kenya was funded by the . Established by Carnegie Mellon trustee and alumnus Larry Jennings Jr. and his wife, Katherine, the fund annually provides students financial support to travel to developing countries during their summer breaks to study, travel, conduct research and/or participate in service work.