Amanda

Certified Tutor

Attending the 8th grade at the Presbyterian Secondary School (PSS) in Bafut, Cameroon as a thirteen-year-old became the first step to understanding disparities between the healthcare systems in Cameroon and in the United States. The teacher, the classroom's autocrat, sometimes used a beating "pipe" for discipline. During test week, school authorities would test fourteen academic subjects and post students' grades on a large board such that public recognition and public humiliation worked to reward and punish students. I spent early in the morning, late in the evening, before and after short bathroom breaks studying fourteen notebooks. As an American in Bafut, I became well-known for unexpected high test scores while recognizing the disparities in opportunities to enter the healthcare field: intelligent classmates surrounded me with minimal resources to finish the physician career pathway.

My next step in learning about disparities in global health care occurred while visiting my uncle's clinic in Cameroon. Cameroon's healthcare system seemed less specialized. For example, my uncle, a physician, treated malaria patients, skin issues, and pregnancies. The hospital rooms surrounded the courtyard, exposed patients and their rooms to the outdoors, and minimally protected patients' rooms from external bacteria. The clinic prioritized treating patients based on payment ability. Having experienced disparities between Cameroon and the United States' healthcare system, I began studying towards a career that minimizes gaps in global healthcare.

Finally, when I participated in the Summer Premedical Academic Enrichment Program in Pittsburgh, the third step to understanding disparities in global healthcare occurred. As a participant, I shadowed UPMC operating staff who performed open-heart surgery, used specialized tools, used sanitary sheets to cover themselves and the operating table, and maintained high sanitation. Such an operation in Cameroon would have likely been fatal. Experiences in UPMC's operating room and in Cameroon's clinic have equipped me to begin recognizing gaps between Cameroon's and the United States' healthcare system.

One final step to bridging gaps in global healthcare is to continue following a health care science path that provides the resources to make it more probable for patients in Cameroon to receive more quality care such as safe open-heart surgeries and for medical students in Cameroon to observe more operations.