Interview Angelina Lutambi, Tanzania
From AIMSWiki
Q: Why did you apply to participate in this course?
I applied because I have a background in modelling HIV and am interested in it. Actually, I could also do malaria, as I had to do it for one particular research project.
Q: How did you get interested in modelling?
In the region where I come from it was one of the first places where people started dying from HIV/AIDS. I went to secondary school in a neighbouring area that already was heavily affected by the HIV pandemic. People were dying there every day and families were crying for them. I asked myself: what is happening? I did not know about the disease, but it also brought some disturbance to the community. It was really difficult. Later, I went to university and I got a degree in physics and maths, and we also had some courses in psychology. We used to do some projects in counselling. We were speaking to people suffering from HIV/AIDS. I got a lot of stories from them. This experience awoke my interest in working in this area. I found myself looking for opportunities where I could apply my knowledge of maths in the health sector, but was not immediately lucky. I then was accepted to do the course at AIMS, which I completed successfully. I went back to Tanzania, looking for applied work, but all I could find were positions for university work in pure maths. I was asking myself whether I would be able to find a place to actually use my skills learned in applied maths.
When I came to AIMS, I got exposed to many different courses and applications aiming to solve public interest problems. This is also where I got interested in modelling diseases. I wrote an essay on demographic modelling of the spread of the disease in Tanzania and in South Africa. And I saw how the epidemic is spreading in these two countries.
Q: What are your expectations with regard to the workshop?
Because of my interest in population levels, I wanted to do some micro-simulations to look at the individual level for my masters. So, I have seen some software, people are using to generate some data, on a specific epidemic. I was wondering whether I could write my own, use these pieces of software to write others to better understand the epidemic and how to control its spread, to communicate what I am getting from my model, communicating it to decision makers in my country. People can maybe do something to change the situation. In my country, we are lacking this knowledge as data is scarce. Even for the little data we have, people are not trained to actually analyze it and use it. Even if we have only a little data, models can save lives. We can use modelling to help the public. So, I thought that if I attended this workshop, I could learn a lot. I found MalariaControl.net and felt that if I learn how to use it, I can create my own applications back home. In addition, I believe that it is very useful to meet other people working on similar issues. Being connected to a network not only is useful for me, but maybe also to others in my country.
Q: What about future job perspectives?
I am currently looking for a job. I went to a certain research institution back in my country. They told me that they needed someone in modelling, because they have a lot of data. They told me that they wanted me to do a Ph.D. with them in the field of HIV and malaria. I sent them all my documents and have been waiting since. I hope I will have good news when I go back after this workshop. If that does not work, I will have to look for a job in a university college. However, this would be my last option, as I would much rather continue working in the area of modelling.
--Viola Krebs, ICVolunteers 09:52, 17 Jul 2007 (SAST)
