Work
So for the past 3 days, I've been working on reading papers on drug resistant malaria, as well as doing work with the data set that's coming out of the surveillance project. The main program we're using to analyze and set up the data is Stata, and I took a bit of time to do a few tutorials and get up to speed on labeling variables and just cleaning up data. It's pretty interesting to be able to do all this data management, especially since there are over 4000 patient visits that I have data for, and hundreds more coming every week. Coding a program is something I didn't think I'd have to do ever, but I find that I spend a lot of time writing little programs to tell myself if there's missing data, to rename stuff and recategorize things, etc. Programs are pretty neat- they really save a lot of time and make life much easier.
Back at UC Berkeley, it was much easier to have a data set already compiled, and to just run commands happily and see how different variables interacted, if something was a risk factor for cancer, etc. Now it's enlightening to work with a data set, know how it was generated, from the first person to write down the data to the person who enters it into a computer, and finally to me- and I have the chance to pick up on problems with missing data and weird values and go back and fix them.
While I've mentioned that the variables themselves, the ones that I'm looking at, are pretty basic, it'll be much more interesting when we have tons and tons of data over a long period of time. The 3 variables that are the most interesting are how many people get diagnosed with malaria, their lab results, and what treatment they get. It'd be nice if we could know how the people do after their treatment (whether or not they get better) or to track individuals with like the equivalent of a social security number, but nothing like that is being tackled quite yet.
In terms of being a hands-on experience with getting to know Uganda and how the health setting responds to malaria, it's been really worthwhile. Fortunately, Grant (my project advisor) just arrived this morning, and gave me a lot more work to do, so it's nice to have a bit more focus rather than just getting an "experience." The goal seems to be getting good data from 1-2 more places like Apac before I leave- the same variables and same data. As you look at the data over long periods of time, and over different regions, the data set has the potential to become more and more interesting. It feels like I'm setting the groundwork for the future- that if I do some good work and build solid foundations now, later I can relax a bit more and let the data stream in after I leave the country.
Sorry if the post is a bit boring- I'm feeling a little sick- headache, tiredness, and complete lack of appetite. I don't know if it's all the starch that they eat here (it's literally a plate full of it, with a small bit of meat and veggies) but my stomach has gotten progressively less and less pleased with the food here. I sometimes get a craving for... ice cream, or pizza, and have a constant desire for fresh clean fruit. While there's a bit of paranoia that comes with being in a country where everything is unfamiliar, having paranoia about the cleanliness of the food and getting strange diseases does kinda push things over the top.
Last night and the night before I watched a World Cup game or two- the US game and the French/Swiss game (and like 10 minutes of the Brazil game, before I felt too tired and my headache persuaded me to go to sleep). The US team got pretty trounced, and the French/Swiss game was a draw, so all and all, it hasn't been too satisfying an experience watching the World Cup. I remember when I was younger and there seemed to be way more action and scoring going on, but I'm sure if I just wait till the quarterfinals or the finals, it'll get more and more interesting (that and I was just unlucky in my choice of games- apparently australia and south korea had amazing games, but I just wasn't around).
Oh, I almost forgot- here's a little tidbit about Ugandan culture/attitudes towards thievery. It happens here (Derek got his iPod stolen out of his backpack while in a commute), but what's interesting is what happens when someone gets CAUGHT stealing. Apparently up north, in the Apac area, the punishment is death (not sure if it's always true though). I was sitting around with Dr. James from the Malaria Consortium and Dr. Yecka, and the local administrator guy, and when the question came up about theft (and why people seemed so relaxed and kept things unlocked) the administrator mentioned that sometimes thieves just get killed outright. He said last week there was a thief who has a gun who got into a shootout with the police. Apparently, the thief only had one gun vs. 10 policemen, but he did have a LOT of bullets, and just continuously sprayed bullets in the general direction of the police. The administrator got shot at in his car as well by the thief, and after stopping his car and talking to the police, he asked what was happening. The police told him the shooter was a thief, and that they weren't planning to bring him back in alive- that they were just going to kill him in out in the brush and not bother bringing him in.
In Kampala, Edwin was the witness to a thievery incident right at the hospital- some baby was playing with its mother's cell phone, and a guy just walked up, said hello, then grabbed the cell phone and ran. The mother immediately started chasing and yelling, and within moments, masses poured out of every door and path, and chased down the thief, whom the mob caught and promptly began to beat with sticks and other weapons.
Derek's mentioned to me that apparently, if you hit a pedestrian on the streets, you're supposed to keep driving as fast as possible, otherwise mobs will drag you out of your car, and also beat you (not sure if it's to death or not, but I wouldn't trust a mob to hold back).
I've joked with Derek that if we ever get confronted by an angry stranger, we'll just give them our wallet, then cry "thief thief" and enlist the protective powers of passerbys.
Back at UC Berkeley, it was much easier to have a data set already compiled, and to just run commands happily and see how different variables interacted, if something was a risk factor for cancer, etc. Now it's enlightening to work with a data set, know how it was generated, from the first person to write down the data to the person who enters it into a computer, and finally to me- and I have the chance to pick up on problems with missing data and weird values and go back and fix them.
While I've mentioned that the variables themselves, the ones that I'm looking at, are pretty basic, it'll be much more interesting when we have tons and tons of data over a long period of time. The 3 variables that are the most interesting are how many people get diagnosed with malaria, their lab results, and what treatment they get. It'd be nice if we could know how the people do after their treatment (whether or not they get better) or to track individuals with like the equivalent of a social security number, but nothing like that is being tackled quite yet.
In terms of being a hands-on experience with getting to know Uganda and how the health setting responds to malaria, it's been really worthwhile. Fortunately, Grant (my project advisor) just arrived this morning, and gave me a lot more work to do, so it's nice to have a bit more focus rather than just getting an "experience." The goal seems to be getting good data from 1-2 more places like Apac before I leave- the same variables and same data. As you look at the data over long periods of time, and over different regions, the data set has the potential to become more and more interesting. It feels like I'm setting the groundwork for the future- that if I do some good work and build solid foundations now, later I can relax a bit more and let the data stream in after I leave the country.
Sorry if the post is a bit boring- I'm feeling a little sick- headache, tiredness, and complete lack of appetite. I don't know if it's all the starch that they eat here (it's literally a plate full of it, with a small bit of meat and veggies) but my stomach has gotten progressively less and less pleased with the food here. I sometimes get a craving for... ice cream, or pizza, and have a constant desire for fresh clean fruit. While there's a bit of paranoia that comes with being in a country where everything is unfamiliar, having paranoia about the cleanliness of the food and getting strange diseases does kinda push things over the top.
Last night and the night before I watched a World Cup game or two- the US game and the French/Swiss game (and like 10 minutes of the Brazil game, before I felt too tired and my headache persuaded me to go to sleep). The US team got pretty trounced, and the French/Swiss game was a draw, so all and all, it hasn't been too satisfying an experience watching the World Cup. I remember when I was younger and there seemed to be way more action and scoring going on, but I'm sure if I just wait till the quarterfinals or the finals, it'll get more and more interesting (that and I was just unlucky in my choice of games- apparently australia and south korea had amazing games, but I just wasn't around).
Oh, I almost forgot- here's a little tidbit about Ugandan culture/attitudes towards thievery. It happens here (Derek got his iPod stolen out of his backpack while in a commute), but what's interesting is what happens when someone gets CAUGHT stealing. Apparently up north, in the Apac area, the punishment is death (not sure if it's always true though). I was sitting around with Dr. James from the Malaria Consortium and Dr. Yecka, and the local administrator guy, and when the question came up about theft (and why people seemed so relaxed and kept things unlocked) the administrator mentioned that sometimes thieves just get killed outright. He said last week there was a thief who has a gun who got into a shootout with the police. Apparently, the thief only had one gun vs. 10 policemen, but he did have a LOT of bullets, and just continuously sprayed bullets in the general direction of the police. The administrator got shot at in his car as well by the thief, and after stopping his car and talking to the police, he asked what was happening. The police told him the shooter was a thief, and that they weren't planning to bring him back in alive- that they were just going to kill him in out in the brush and not bother bringing him in.
In Kampala, Edwin was the witness to a thievery incident right at the hospital- some baby was playing with its mother's cell phone, and a guy just walked up, said hello, then grabbed the cell phone and ran. The mother immediately started chasing and yelling, and within moments, masses poured out of every door and path, and chased down the thief, whom the mob caught and promptly began to beat with sticks and other weapons.
Derek's mentioned to me that apparently, if you hit a pedestrian on the streets, you're supposed to keep driving as fast as possible, otherwise mobs will drag you out of your car, and also beat you (not sure if it's to death or not, but I wouldn't trust a mob to hold back).
I've joked with Derek that if we ever get confronted by an angry stranger, we'll just give them our wallet, then cry "thief thief" and enlist the protective powers of passerbys.
posted by Vince at 5:24 AM
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