Global Public Health
Reducing Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa Case Study Report
This artifact was completed for my Global Public Health course. The course focused on major health issues affecting populations across the world, including poverty, malnutrition, access to care, communicable disease, chronic disease, health systems, and health inequities.
For the final project, I completed a global health case study report that required me to identify a specific health issue, describe the affected population, develop an intervention, and explain the expected impact of the program. My report focused on reducing child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific emphasis on neonatal mortality and access to maternal and newborn care.
What I learned
This assignment helped me understand how global public health problems are shaped by more than disease alone. Child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa is connected to poverty, geography, transportation barriers, maternal health, healthcare workforce limitations, and unequal access to facility-based care. In my report, I discussed how Sub-Saharan Africa continues to experience a high burden of under-five and neonatal deaths, making it an important region for targeted global health interventions.
I chose this artifact because it helped me apply global health concepts to a real public health challenge. Instead of only describing the problem, I had to think through a realistic intervention that could improve access to care. My proposed intervention focused on using community health workers to bring maternal and newborn care closer to rural communities, where long travel distances and limited transportation can prevent women and infants from receiving routine care.
This project helped me see the importance of designing healthcare solutions that fit the population being served. A facility-based system may work better in urban areas, but it can leave rural communities behind when services are centralized far from where people live. Through this report, I learned that effective global health programs must be practical, culturally aware, financially realistic, and sustainable.
This artifact also connects to my long-term interest in healthcare administration and systems improvement. It taught me that leadership in healthcare requires understanding population needs, resource limitations, and health equity. Whether working locally or globally, healthcare leaders must think about how systems can be structured to improve access, reduce preventable deaths, and support vulnerable populations.
Program Competencies
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Describe the structure and functioning of health delivery, public health, and health services organizations and the importance of a population health perspective.
This artifact required me to examine how health systems function in rural Sub-Saharan Africa and how community-based care could improve access for mothers and newborns. -
Apply data and health information technology to inform organizational performance and decision making.
I used global health data on child mortality, neonatal mortality, poverty, and population characteristics to justify why this issue and region required focused intervention. -
Apply quality, strategic planning, management, organizational behavior, marketing, and human resource theories and tools to manage organizational resources, confront industry challenges, and improve outcomes in health organizations.
The proposed community health worker program required planning around staffing, training, cost, transportation, implementation, and expected health outcomes. -
Demonstrate effective written communication and oral communication skills.
The case study report required clear written organization, including background, intervention/program rollout, expected impact, and references. -
Collaborate in teams utilizing interpersonal skills, recognizing and demonstrating sensitivity to different points of view.
Although this artifact was an individual report, global public health requires sensitivity to culture, geography, poverty, and the lived experiences of communities affected by health inequities. -
Demonstrate behaviors that align with ethical, legal, and professional standards.
The assignment required responsible use of evidence, proper citation, and ethical consideration of how public health interventions affect vulnerable populations.