LaDaisy Turner reflects on conducting workshops, interviews aimed at improving menstrual hygiene education in underserved regions.

Rewarding and soul-fulfilling are only a few words out of many I could use to describe my global health fieldwork experience in Kenya this past summer. During my six-week fieldwork placement in rural Kenya (Ukwala/Sega in Lake Victoria region of Western Kenya), I collaborated with a local nonprofit organization (Project Juani) dedicated to improving women’s health, particularly focusing on menstrual hygiene education and women’s health.

My primary role involved conducting workshops and educational sessions for
adolescent girls and boys at local schools, with the aim of increasing menstrual health literacy, reducing stigma, promoting hygienic practices and better understanding puberty, sex education and pregnancy. Additionally, I assisted in distributing menstrual hygiene kits and collaborated on implementing a monitoring and evaluation system to track the impact of these interventions and further determine the current/future need within the area of such interventions.

Throughout this experience, I gained practical skills in community-based health promotion and deepened my understanding of the challenges faced by rural Kenyan communities in accessing essential health resources and education. I conducted interviews and group discussions to better understand the cultural perspectives surrounding menstrual health, gaining insights that will inform my future work in global health, particularly in this area of Africa.

Working alongside local health professionals and community leaders, I developed a greater appreciation for community-led solutions and culturally sensitive health interventions. This fieldwork not only enhanced my skills in global health program implementation but also reinforced my commitment to addressing health inequities in underserved regions.

This story is by LaDaisy Turner, a fourth-year dual degree student in the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine and Master of Science in Global Health programs at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. It appeared in its original form in the SUGS Pulse newsletter on November 8, 2024.