Episode 4-Interview with Nang’andu Chizyuka

In this episode we chat with Nang’andu, a health promotion specialist from Zambia about her 11 year career in public health.   We discussed: How Nana started her career in public health and what motivated her to focus on health in development Secondary prevention in Cervical cancer All things Cervical cancer  What work she currently does and what that looks like on a typical day/week  Monitoring and Evaluation in public health programs  It's not just M&E Nana’s multi year experience and the different amazing work and areas she has worked in Digitalization of M&E and how Nana has taken it in stride  What digital applications and platforms Nana uses in her work  How her role requires her to be flexible, adaptable and translate between different kinds of experts  How she has continued to learn new skills and dedicated time to that to keep up to date with the work The importance of prioritizing the population as a receiver of information and evidence generated in public health work  Data for decision making - Decisions in health begin at the individual’s health  Beyond data collection and M&E in public health work  Data as an empowerment tool for people Nana’s definition of public health and what it means and looks like for her  There is so much work to do!  Frustrations and challenges working in public health  What is Nana’s favourite thing about working in public health  What keeps Nana working in public health?  Public Health saves lives  Skills that Nana has found useful in public health Top things that Nana recommends investing in while working in public health  The value of relationships in public health work  What she does when she feels demotivated in her work or in a slump  The value of humanities and social sciences in public health with examples from a reproductive health program that Nana worked in  The value of innovation in public health  Who are we doing public health work for? Public health interventions need to be inclusive and not discriminatory  Tips and words of wisdom to young people Challenges in career guidance and learning how to explore  Visible women Zambia and mentorship for young women and girls