‘’We need to disabuse young girls minds of the notion that science courses are too difficult to study…’’

We go on with the campaign to commemorate the 11th February, International Day for Women and Girls in Science. We want to show the important role played by MARCAD and African women in general in the scientist field.
Virtue Fiawokome De-Gaulle is a young female researcher from Ghana, and the PhD fellow on the Ghana MARCAD Project. She holds Bsc in Home Science and a Master of Science in Applied Health Social from the University of Ghana.

In this interview she shares her passion for science and describes the malaria situation in Ghana. She also talks about her research and the important that her project research results will get in the malaria elimination.

- Why did you choose to be a researcher?
My passion for research started from my undergraduate studies. The nutrition courses I took during my bachelor’s degree made me appreciate a need for preventive health through good nutrition and exercise. Since then I developed a passion for public health, a discipline that is centered on protecting and improving the health of people through promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases. I decided to pursue a career in public health with the emphasis on engaging in health researches that will produce results that can be used for behavior change which can help avert some of the preventable diseases plaguing my country.

- What explains your choice to investigate on malaria and not another area?
I hail from a country (Ghana) where malaria is a household name because of its high prevalence and incidence. The disease is the highest cause of Out Patient Department (OPD) cases in Ghana. There are several measures to control malaria in Ghana (availability of medicines to treat, preventive measures (bed nets), prophylactic treatments for pregnant women like (IPTp-SP) and even seasonal malaria chemoprevention among children). Despite the implementation of these interventions, malaria continues to be a disease of great public health concern for Ghana with children under five and pregnant women bearing the greatest brunt of the disease. I therefore decided to conduct a study to unearth gaps in any in the implementation of malaria in pregnancy interventions in Ghana. My research theme is on assessing the effectiveness of the Ghana health system in controlling malaria among pregnant women.

- Why did you choose this theme?
This theme was chosen because pregnant women are the main adult population most vulnerable to malaria and the adverse effects not only affects the pregnant woman but the fetus and newborn. Although, there are interventions such as administering IPTp-SP and Long-lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) during ANC clinics, reports from the Ghana National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) show that ANC attendance is high, yet uptake of the interventions are low. I therefore chose a research theme that seeks to find out the implementation challenges of the malaria in pregnancy interventions.

- How do you think your project results could contribute to the malaria elimination in Africa?
My research work seeks to identify gaps or bottlenecks in the Ghana Health System which could be impeding the effective implementation of malaria in pregnancy interventions. The results could unearth these gaps, and this would be basis upon which to test some strategies that can improve the implementation of these interventions to make us realize the expected impact of little or no morbidity and maternal mortality to malaria and its associated effects on the fetus.

- How can women and girls be more interested and promoted in science?
I believe we have a responsibility as women researchers and scientist to encourage young girls to aspire to achieve greater heights in the career paths they are passionate about especially science courses. We need to disabuse their minds of the notion that science courses are too difficult to study and let them see the heights we have reached so that they can be encouraged to aspire to get there. We can do this by organizing symposiums in secondary schools where they will need the encouragement and the guidance on their career paths.

- Do programs like MARCAD help to promote gender balance in the field of scientific research on the continent? If yes, how?
I believe MARCAD promotes gender balance in the field of scientific research. I say this because I am using observed evidence form the fellows currently on this MARCAD cohort (2016-2021). I can see both female and male fellows in the participating countries and the conclusion I can draw from it is that persons who qualify irrespective of their gender are given the opportunity to benefit from the MARCAD funding and assistance.