The biomedical analysis and dietetics programs have come up with a degree project arrangement that combines internationalization with interdisciplinary teaching and learning. One student from each of the two programs has just returned to Sweden after spending nine weeks in Rwanda.
Little over a week has passed since Anna Kerola and Josefine Lindqvist returned to Sweden after a shared, two-month adventure in Kigali on Minor Field Studies scholarships financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
Both of them collected data for their degree projects as part of a study concerning pregnancy. Biomedical analysis student Anna Kerola examined two hundred pregnant women with ultrasound to study the occurrence of rheumatic heart disease, a potential complication of untreated streptococcus infection. Dietetics student Josefine Lindqvist conducted interviews with more than one hundred pregnant women to analyze iron in their diets.
“We’re very happy that we went,” Ms. Kerola says. “I would do it all over if I had the chance.” She adds that she is a lot more familiar with the dietetics profession than before getting to know her travel companion.
“Being in Rwanda was an extremely enlightening experience” Ms. Lindqvist says. “Now that we are back, we can laugh at situations that occured.”
They noticed right away that health care is considerably more hierarchical in Rwanda than in Sweden. People there almost never say no, and you have to listen closely to figure out if that’s what they mean anyway. They don’t always adhere to strict schedules and deadlines like Swedes, occasionally referring to it as ‘African time.’
“One day we had set up a meeting with a doctor at the hospital,”Ms. Lindqvist says. “He came by while we were waiting and said that he would be half an hour late. That was the last we heard from him before he finally showed up two hours later.”
It took much longer than anticipated to obtain ethical approval and their projects were substantially delayed. They couldn’t start collecting data until the fifth week they were there.
“I’m extremely impressed that they managed to examine and interview 300 women after almost half their stay was over,” their supervisor Bente Grüner Sveälv says. “It was a terrific initiative.” She was involved in a Sida-financed teacher exchange program under the Linneaus-Palme project at the same time and could support the students on the ground.
This is the second time that students in the biomedical analysis and dietetics programs have conducted international degree projects together. The first joint trip was to Nepal
“We gain a whole new perspective,” says Henriette Philipson, an instructor in the dietetics program. “We learn about the problems and solutions that other people work with and we generate synergies.
“Teachers became more acquainted with the various disciplines when we fill in as each other’s supervisors,” says Camilla Hesse at the biomedical analysis program. “I’ve had to read up on nutrition although I’m still far from an expert.”
The teaching and learning project funds of the various faculties supported development of the concept. The initial idea was to include the midwifing program as well, but the practical details became too knotty.
