Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute

Lisa’s employer, The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (http://www.swisstph.ch/),  is a fascinating place.  As their vision statement notes, they “seek to achieve significant improvements of human health and well-being through a better understanding of disease and health systems and acting on this knowledge”.    Key is the last part of the statement, “ and acting on this knowledge”.   While they’re largely an academic institution, their position is that studying diseases alone is not sufficient.  They want to use the knowledge gained to have an impact.   I suspect that this is why their Travel Safety documents refer to their business trips as “missions”.   Speaking of safety, as the nature of the work means significant project work in developing countries,  the emphasis in their safety training is quite different than what I’ve become accustomed to in industry.  Lisa’s training focused not on hard hats and safety glasses but instead on topics like the benefits of Durallin impregnated mosquito netting and clear instructions for what to do if a Tsetse fly escapes in the lab.  Some of the training is logical (always register with your embassy and if a coup d’état develops, contact them immediately) while other pointers are useful tidbits I would not have otherwise known (avoid Russian aircraft, they tend to be overloaded).   In addition to the survival tips, Lisa’s work has taught her much about writing NGO research grants, maneuvering around Africa (Tunisia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Chad so far) and how to find motivated, diligent field workers while minimizing dependency on government officials who’ve gained their positions via patronage instead of competence.

Lisa doing field work in Chad