Read the story of one of our alumni from coming to London to study at Queen Mary to their later career in Cameroon and now studying for a PhD in Cambridge.
Lundi Anne Oman Ngo Bibaa studied MSc Global Health Systems Theory and Policy at Queen Mary.
Before coming to the UK for a Masters degree, Lundi worked for a national NGO (Reach Out Cameroon) coordinating and leading the implementation of public health programmes in hard to reach communities in the country.
The modules on health inequalities, social determinants of health and evidence-based research during Lundi’s masters degree at Queen Mary shaped her reflections on how to contribute towards impacting and improving health outcomes for the communities she serves. After Lundi returned to her home country after her masters, she met a humanitarian crisis resulting from an armed conflict. She had to transition from a development-oriented programs person to working in a humanitarian context. While coordinating humanitarian programs, she observed the unavoidable differences in healthcare access for many displaced communities impacted by the conflict. This was coupled with the loss of human rights, limited means of communication, low socioeconomic status, increased insecurity for gunshots, frequent curfews, and burning down of villages causing populations to live in bushes. These determinants affected the way services were designed and delivered to affected communities. She observed some gaps in the service delivery approaches used by the humanitarian community.
This was the reason behind the choice of Lundi’s PhD research, which focuses on health care delivery models for conflict-affected settings in Cameroon and Nigeria. She is currently studying for her PhD at the University of Cambridge.
Studying together with a diverse group of health professionals from different nationalities was what I enjoyed the most. I think Queen Mary embodies the meaning of the term “diversity”. I had the feeling of ‘being at home away from home’ as I met and connected with friends from different nationalities.— Lundi Anne Oman Ngo Bibaa, MSc Global Health Systems Theory and Policy
If you'd like to find out more about Lundi's story, you can read the full interview on our alumni profile.