Tanzania elective travel grant RFA for fourth year medical students

This course is a four-week clinical elective during Block 8 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and designed for fourth-year medical students with a genuine interest in global health and in caring for underserved populations.

This rotation will expose the student to 1) medical care at a national hospital (Muhimbili National Hospital) in a developing country which has recently invested in an advanced cardiac center and 2) participation in a rural outreach clinic where MUSC and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (the national university) have an active, NIH-funded field research site focused on large-scale community-based prevention and care programs, including integration of screening for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension with HIV testing, coupled-based HIV treatment, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV-uninfected clients coupled with HIV-infected partners, home-based monitoring for diabetes and hypertension, development of a low-cost locally produced glucometer, studies of the prevalence and predictors of non-communicable diseases (diabetes, hypertension, CKD), tailored counseling and testing for HIV based on risk profile, home-based HIV self-testing, and an incentive-based program to encourage sexual partners of HIV-infected and high risk patients to seek HIV testing.

Location: Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Tanzania is home to one of MUSC’s established global health partnerships for research, training, and education. Over the last two decades, MUSC has established strong partnerships with colleagues in Tanzania to develop and implement research and clinical programs to address HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and scaling up the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, chronic kidney disease, hypertension and diabetes.

MUSC has an active collaboration with Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) the national referral hospital and the teaching hospital for Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), the oldest and largest university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. MNH is a 1500-bed facility, with 1,000 to 1,200 outpatients encounters per week and admitting 1,000 to 1,200 inpatients per day. MNH has 300 doctors and specialists and 900 registered & enrolled nurses.

Dar es Salaam, with approximately 4 million inhabitants, is the economic center of Tanzania (about 49 million inhabitants). The United Republic of Tanzania is situated on the East Coast of Africa, south of Kenya, and north of Mozambique. According to the World Bank, the GDP for Tanzania was among the lowest worldwide (744 international dollars – purchasing power parity- in 2006) and total health expenditure amounted to only US$ 11.3 per capita per year.

Tanzania has a high burden of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. At the same time, chronic non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases are becoming more common and are projected to be the highest contributors to disease burden in Africa by 2030. The effects of increasing risk factors, including unhealthy lifestyles, have led to the rapid increase of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and ischaemic heart diseases. Increased use of Highly-Active Antiretrovirals (HAART) is also contributing to an increase in non-communicable diseases.

Recognizing that cardiovascular disease is a national concern, the Government of Tanzania committed to opening the country’s first advanced cardiac center at MNH, which includes a 96-bed facility equipped for procedures and diagnostic heart catheterizations.

Request for Applications: Global Health Clinical Elective in Tanzania

Block 8 (February 3 – 28, 2020)

Scholarship and Placement Limited to Two (2) Fourth-Year Medical Students

Application Deadline: August 1, 2019, at 5 p.m. EST
Earliest Anticipated Award Date: August 30, 2019

The MUSC Center for Global Health, MUSC Heart and Vascular, and MUSC College of Medicine have partnered to provide a four-week global health elective in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania during Block 8. Two (2) fourth-year medical students will be selected and partially funded to travel to Tanzania where they will be exposed to a wide spectrum of heart diseases in addition to problems not commonly seen in the US such as malaria, typhoid, and rheumatic heart disease. Fourth-year medical students with a genuine interest in global health and in caring for underserved populations are encouraged to apply.

The scholarship awarded will be $2500 per person to go towards the cost of travel expenses to Tanzania. The remainder of the cost of travel expenses/lodging/meals/etc will be the responsibility of the student.

Eligibility
• Applicants must be a rising MS4 student in good standing and registered MUSC full-time students.
• Applications received after the deadline will not be accepted.
• Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Submission of Application

The process includes combining the following documents as a single PDF and emailing them to ellisk@musc.edu

1. Personal essay. Applicants must write a letter in first person, no more than one-page single space, about what they want to get out of the educational experience, and how that fits into their career development, and discuss their ability (background and experience) to carry out the project.

2. Letter of support from a faculty advisor. Provide a letter of support from an MUSC faculty member discussing the applicant’s potential and preparedness to undertake the project.

3. Current CV

Evaluation

• A review committee will evaluate the applications based upon the preparedness of the applicant to undertake the project, strength of the personal essay, and strength of the applicant’s background and experience.

• The top applicants from the first round of scoring will be invited to a brief interview with the panel where two finalists will be selected.

Award Requirements

• Recipients will be required to sign a notice of award letter outlining award requirements, which must be fulfilled as part of the funding.
• Award is contingent upon each applicant’s satisfactory participation in MUSC’s required pre-departure preparation process. Failure to actively participate in and complete the pre-departure preparation process can result in revocation of the award.
• Funds may be used for pre-travel immunizations, visa/passport fees, airfare, program fees, and room and board related to your global health experience. Travel and accommodation (i.e., amounts, items, class of airfare) must adhere to MUSC’s travel policies.

Please direct inquiries related to this announcement to: ellisk@musc.edu