I hail from a locality in sub-Saharan Africa where there are approximately 50,000 persons to a doctor (WHO). I have watched people and loved ones suffer and even die of preventable and curable diseases. As a result, I am consumed with a passion to make a difference in public health in Africa. I was born in the sprawling city of Lagos in Nigeria- one of the largest cities in West Africa with a population of over 14 million. My family then moved to Kaduna, a city in northern Nigeria, after living in Lagos for three years. I completed six years of primary school in Kaduna and three years of high school in a boarding school in Zaria, a nearby town. My final three years of High school were in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria. After passing my exams in flying colors, I was accepted into Babcock University in Nigeria where I started a major in Biochemistry. My lifelong dream of making a difference in health care in Africa could however not be fulfilled by graduating at Babcock hence my enrollment at Bluffton University in Ohio where I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology, May 2007 and subsequently my enrollment into the masters of public health program at Tulane University (International health and development department) where I plan to graduate in May 2010.

My internship program is with the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN). PPFN has initiated various successful projects in Nigeria including Enhancement of Sexual and Reproductive Health in Northern Nigeria, Stay Alive Youth Project Initiative, and Sexual Reproductive Health Program Marketing Communication. The integrated reproductive health services project, an ongoing project of PPFN is one in which I am particularly interested in. Its goal is to enhance the access of the population of Nigeria especially those of reproductive age to quality sexual reproductive health / family planning services. As an intern I will be a part of this project by helping to brainstorm and research ways in which this can be done as well as the counseling of the target population. The provision of SRH/FP services to the population as a part of the internship is in line with the Fellowship program’s objective i.e. to improve reproductive health programs in sub-Saharan Africa, and in this case, Nigeria. The hope is that this project at the end will have improved the access of SRH/FP services to a substantial number of the target population. This internship gives me an opportunity to begin achieving my goal to bring about positive health change in developing countries that are several steps behind in health care- especially in the area of reproductive health. By gaining hands on experience in Nigeria, I will be honing skills in the research and planning of reproductive health interventions.