Perinatal HIV Research Unit... Finally :)

I spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week in Soweto (a very large township just outside of Jo’berg) interning at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit. I found this internship through my previous internship because we worked with them a bit. I was immediately very intrigued by the work the PHRU undertakes such as conducting many studies regarding the spread of HIV, the social stigma surrounding those infected with HIV, and of particular interest to me… prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV. That is the department I am working in. I am working with Dr. Coceka Mnyani on a handful of research projects for which I am conducting literature reviews, analyzing patients’ charts, and interpreting surveys. So far I have been working on a literature review regarding the risk of premature delivery on antiretroviral therapy and spent 15 hours in a course call Good Clinical Practice and feel completely prepared to conduct , monitor, audit and participate in a study. It was a lot of information to say the least.
I am most excited about traveling to the rural clinics surrounding Soweto with Dr. Mnyani to treat and work with HIV + pregnant women. I should be able to go on my first round later this week :)
The PHRU is a branch of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, which is the largest public hospital in the southern hemisphere! My first day at the hospital took me by surprise… Bara is definitely not up to the standards of any US hospital I have seen and the electricity is out quite often. Yes, my first day I got to climb 12 flights of stairs 3 times. :O
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that in SA, the government provides free healthcare services and medications to any citizen who attends a public hospital! Of course it is paid for through the tax payers’ money, but everyone enjoys the stability and security it offers them and their family members. For providers it gets a bit overwhelming at times I’m guessing though. Dr. Mnyani said that at Bara there are 60 deliveries and 15 cesarean sections daily! That 10x what I have seen in all my 150 hours of shadowing in just one day! Amazing!