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#266 - 🌍 Celebrating Connections: A Year in Review with Mbozu and Shelly-Ann




Hello Friends 👋

In this special episode of the Global Neonatal Podcast, hosts Mbozu and Shelly-Ann take a reflective journey through the year, revisiting key insights from conversations with four inspiring change makers in newborn health: Dr. Kunda Kapembwa (Zambia), Dr. Clyde Cave and Dr. Gillian Birchwood (Barbados), Dr. Guilherme Sant’Anna (Brazil), and Dr. Pradeep Suryawanshi (India).



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List of  of previous Global Neonatal Podcast Episodes


Episode 176- Pioneering Neonatology in Zambia (ft. Dr. Kunda Mutesu Kapembwa)



Episode 182- The Newborn Toolkit (ft. Professor Joy Lawn, Lauren Allison and Dr. Mbozu Sipalo)



Episode 193- Caring for Neonates in Burundi (ft. Dr. Jennifer Harling)



Episode 202- Starting a Neonatal-Perinatal Fellowship Program in Rwanda (ft. Dr. Brandon Reed Hadfield and Dr. John Baptist Nkuranga)



Episode 207- Caring for Neonates in Barbados. How small changes over time create big results (ft Dr. Clyde Cave and Dr. Gillian Birchwood)



Episode 217- Developing Neonatal Units: The Role of Mentorship (ft. Professor Pradeep Suryawanshi)



Episode 225- Low Tech, High Impact. Caring for Neonates in Arusha Tanzania (ft Dr. Stephen Swanson)



Episode 231: Closing the Gap: Improving access to human milk in LMICs (ft. Dr. Emily Njuguna and Kimberly Mansen)



Episode 239- Training Tomorrow’s Leaders. Insights from NICU Fellows in the African Neonatal Fellowship Program (ft. Dr. Ritah Nazziwa and Dr. Gae Mundundu)



Episode 246- From Brazil to Canada. How community and collaboration can lead to change (ft. Dr. Guilherme Sant’Anna)



Episode 255- Reflections from the Tiny Feet Big Steps Conference in Arusha Tanzania (ft. Dr. Margaret Kakakeeto and Dr. Stephen Swanson)


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The transcript of today's episode can be found below 👇


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (00:00)

Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Global Neonatal Podcast. Rose, how are you doing today?


Mbozu Sipalo (00:07)

Good good, how are you doing Shelly Anne?


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (00:10)

Doing good, doing good. Today's episode, we don't have an interview for you, but we wanted to highlight a few of the episodes from this past year. The Global Neonatal Podcast started in January of 2024, and so it's been, it's almost a year old, and so we just wanted to kind of celebrate how, celebrate the podcast by just highlighting four episodes.


and kind of reflecting on some of the lessons learned during these interviews.


Mbozu Sipalo (00:43)

Yeah, it sounds, it feels like we've been all over the world from Africa, like in Zambia and then Brazil and India. And it's just amazing to see how far we've come as a podcast that we're a year old. That's, that's, that's a big one.


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (01:01)

I know, yes, exactly. So do you want to start and kind of talk about one of the episodes that you wanted to highlight?


Mbozu Sipalo (01:03)

Yeah.


Yeah, happy to. This is me being extremely biased because I'm from Zambia, but the person I'd love to profile and just highlight firstly is Dr. Kunda Kapemba, who is the, at the moment, the only practicing Zambian neonatologist and the neonatologist who opened the Global Neonatal Podcast. I especially liked how


She concluded the podcast sharing insights on the low hanging fruit interventions that need to be tackled when you need to start from somewhere, start small, start with the low hanging fruit. She gave examples of hand washing and kangaroo mother care, and also the leadership technique to use. You have to be very strategic about how you get buy-in from the people you're working with. And yeah, just being very...


conscious of that and having a good approach. So yeah, I really enjoyed listening to her and I'm happy that we'll be able to profile her again as we reflect.


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (02:15)

Yeah, I remember that episode was pretty inspiring to know that as the only neonatologist in a country and to see the work that she was able to do. And like you said, just starting with that low hanging fruit. So with that, we'll go to the clip of Dr. Kunda.



………………………….



Shelly-Ann Dakarai (00:02)

So the next clip I wanted us to reflect on was our interview with Dr. Clyde Cave and Dr. Jillian Burchwood, both neonatologists in Barbados. And it's interesting that our first one that we reflected on Dr. Kunda was part inspiration for the podcast. We learned about her work and that was one of the ideas of why we wanted to start a global neonatal podcast was because


We wanted to share stories. And that was how your idea of the podcast kind of came to be. And Dr. Cave and Dr. Birchwood on my end was one of the reasons why I thought it would be a good idea to do a podcast because I had met them and heard about how they were doing innovative things with the resources that they had. And I was like, we need to share these stories because I know that there are a lot of people in similar situations who...


could be inspired by this. So this is why I picked them as the second clip to listen to. And the part that I wanted to highlight was the part where they shared advice for people working in similar situations. They were pretty vulnerable and I appreciated their honesty about the hardships and sharing how as the change maker, you really have to be part of that change.


I really like how they talk about themselves as incrementalists and not expecting big changes and just working slowly over time and how that was the best approach that they saw work in their situation. So with that, we'll go to the clip from Dr. Birchwood and Dr. Cave.


……………………………………………………


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (00:02)

So the last one we wanted to highlight is an interview we did with Dr. Pradeep Suryawanshi, who is in Pune, India. And we wanted to highlight this one because in it, Dr. Pradeep talked a lot about mentorship and how he was able to help not just improve the care in his referral center, NICU, but be able to help


build a network of NICUs in the referring regions. And so it was really interesting hearing his take on what mentorship really is and how you are able to bring people and staff and units from one level to the next. And that's one of the reasons why we wanted to highlight this interview.


Mbozu Sipalo (01:04)

Yeah, and I recall his work in POCUS as well being something that he talked about and that he's involved in. yeah, and just highlighting the importance of low tech, high impact interventions for neonatal care. So really glad we will be profiling him again.


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (01:28)

And let's go to the clip from that episode.


……………………………………..


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (00:01)

And there we have it, highlights from four of the interviews we did in 2024, highlighting five remarkable physicians who are improving neonatal care where they work. just excited that we have been able to be on this journey of sharing these stories and hopefully


helping to inspire others working in similar situations and maybe even foster some collaborations.


Mbozu Sipalo (00:37)

Yeah, I especially like how they are a big testament to how we did try to represent different regions like the South America and Africa and the Caribbean. So yeah, hoping that in 2025, we have an even wider reach and


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (00:46)

Mm-hmm.


Yes.


Mbozu Sipalo (01:00)

To our listeners out there, if you have anyone who you think would be good to profile on our podcast, reach out to us. We'd be happy, happy, more than happy to have more people be profiled and have them have the opportunity to connect with more researchers globally.


Shelly-Ann Dakarai (01:06)

Definitely.


Yes. So until next time, this is Shelley Anne and from the Global Needle Podcast. See you next time.


Mbozu Sipalo (01:24)


Okay. Bye.



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