Megan Kill
Megan Kill is an alumni of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and has a master's degree in Epidemiology.
Location London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Activity
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Actually, the rubella virus outbreak in the 60's was very similar to the current Zika outbreak in terms of changing minds on abortion laws. Here is a nice National Geographic article that describes the similarities:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/160205-zika-virus-rubella-abortion-brazil-birth-control-womens-health-history/ -
This just goes to show that unfortunately there is a lot we don't know about Zika, its transmission routes, and its effects.
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Thanks for the suggestion, Paul! It's something we can considering incorporating into the next run of the course.
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Since only 20% of people show symptoms of an infection, the reproduction number is hard to determine for Zika. I haven't seen any data published on this -- has anyone else?
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Hi Jostron,
Apologies, but we are only running the course in English and don't have Spanish-speaking hosts or moderators! -
It's something that is a nice idea and may help, but there is no evidence to support the theory. James discusses this in Step 3.5!
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Megan Kill replied to Denise Greenwood
Hi Denise,
Yes, you will always have access to the course material now! And please share! We do have another run of the course coming up in a couple of weeks (Aug 8th), so you could always direct your staff to the course run page and they can complete the course themselves! -
Megan Kill replied to Claire Foran
It's a good point, and definitely something that worries researchers. I think it's important to recognise that vector control efforts will not only help control mosquito populations and reduce the transmission of Zika, but can also impact the transmission of a number of other viruses as well (e.g. yellow fever, dengue, etc). I think you will find this last...
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Megan Kill replied to Tony Gillie
No worries! We will make sure to change the wording of the question for the next run of the course! Thanks for the feedback everyone!
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Megan Kill replied to Tony Gillie
Hi all! I appreciate the quiz question is a bit tricky. We wanted to make sure you were aware that when looking for mosquito eggs, they will be small black eggs and not white eggs, since they only stay white for a matter of minutes.
Also, we are trying to answer questions individually in the platform, but find it works better to highlight repeated questions...
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Megan Kill replied to Jen Sim
Yes, that can happen. But It's unknown whether this can happen with Zika virus. It's one of the many unknowns about the virus!
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It's such a good read! Enjoy!
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Megan Kill replied to Jose Manuel Perez
Nice to hear you are finding the course informative! The next run of the course is on the 8th of August. And once they register for it, they will always have access to the course material.
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Megan Kill replied to Robyn Shepherd
Hi Robyn,
We don't upload the English version of the course on the platform. Since you are registered for the course, you will always have access to it. -
Hi Joy! That's a great question -- when retrospectively looking back at a previous Zika outbreak, they did find an increase in microcephaly cases. This association wasn't discovered until recently. We will talk more about this in Step 1.11.
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Megan Kill replied to Cath Swanson
We will talk a bit more about this over the week. You are right in questioning it though, as it is difficult!
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Megan Kill replied to Jack Onyando
Thanks for sharing!
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Hi Alison! So glad to hear you enjoyed the course. You will always have access to the course materials through your FutureLearn account. As for others who aren't enrolled on the course, they can still enroll through this week and will have access to the course materials. However, after this week, they will not be able to register and will not have access to...
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Megan Kill replied to Julie Corey
Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you for sharing, Foluso! What a great idea to get children excited about using soap!
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Very true about the messages needing to be adjusted to the culture and country! It's such an important thing to remember in public health.
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The lifecycle approach is key to understanding all of these issues. Each stage affects subsequent stages.
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There was a paper that was published in the Lancet in 1998, (which has been completely disproved and the paper retracted) that said there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. This really scared people and many didn't get their children vaccinated. The effects are still being seen today! There are a lot of articles about this online. Here is one......
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We will talk about this in more detail in Step 5.10. Such an interesting topic!
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Why do you think this reduction in knowledge has occurred, Foluso?
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I agree! His presentations are very informative and easy to understand!
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Megan Kill replied to Philip Lim
Thank you for sharing!
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Do you think it would be difficult to educate people about the harmful effects of the local herbs in communities with such strong beliefs in them? Would they believe you?
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Sad to hear that women are not only losing their child, but they are shunned by family members. What a difficult time for her.
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Well stated! The lifecycle approach to improving health is key!
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Wow-- it's such an emotional event not only for the mother, but for her friends as well. Thank you for sharing your personal story.
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Thank you for sharing!
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I agree! Any ideas on how to do this?
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Megan Kill replied to Heather Woods
Wow! That is such a great idea! something you could raise money for and purchase! Thank you for sharing!
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Megan Kill replied to Dr Babatunde Tikare
Babatunde, do you have any ideas of how this can be fixed in the short-term? Long-term? Great to hear from you since you have personal experience and know what it is like in these camps.
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Megan Kill replied to SAMUEL BEDIAKO ASARE
Do you find that women are still not accessing medical care, even though there are no fees?
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Megan Kill replied to Adwoa Adu-Sarkodee
Adowa, I really like your use of the word compassion! I agree, this is what we need!
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Megan Kill replied to Cara Franey
So great to hear that you are enjoying this course and using it to teach others!
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Very good point! Armed conflicts have a big effect on medical care.
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Do you know what the main strategies used to reduce the maternal mortality by 90%? Impressive!
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Intersting to hear that an increase in caesareans are a problem in a lot of high income countries now. I wonder how this can be dealt with? Any ideas?
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Megan Kill replied to Erika Kipping
I find it interesting too how big the problem of inequity is in the US. And I feel like it is getting worse (or maybe I just know more about it now). I was shocked to see that maternal mortality is rising in the US! Clearly problems still exist in high income countries as well in regards to inequity.
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Megan Kill replied to Ochan George Lokilamoi
Can you think of some ways in which we can change these young mothers attitudes in your country? It would be very beneficial for these women to receive ANC, especially if it is their first pregnancy, so they could be prepared for what is to come.
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Have you seen an increase in pregnant women attending health facilities since 2013?
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I agree! Conflict zones are definitely a problem and contribute to the delays in receiving care! They also make it more difficult to get accurate data as well.
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Great to hear about your experiences implementing these strategies to reduce the delays in accessing care!
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I think it may be confusing as the maternal mortality rate is calculated in 15-49 year olds. The other indicators go by live births, thus including 10-14 year olds.
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If it helps, read the transcript. There are a lot of definitions covered in this step! Let me know if anything is unclear.
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Thank you Peninah! The main thing to note is that a severe complication may not be life-threatening and that is why it isn't classified as a near miss. An example of a severe complication would be severe pre-eclampsia, while a near miss would be cardiovascular dysfunction. Have a look at the document I have linked to from WHO. Box 1 (page 9) describes the...
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Thanks for sharing, Valerie!
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It's hard to change people's attitudes if their peers are telling them the opposite. I think this is a major challenge that will be faced in providing family planning services in these types of settings.
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I agree!
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Oliver, why do you think people who use family planning methods are considered sex workers? I wonder where this idea has come from? Are there any ways to change people's attitudes to this?
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What country are you referring to? How scary to think that a woman wanting an abortion, which I imagine would be a stressful time in her life, now has the added stress of trying to pay high fees for it!
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Helen, have you seen that the drop-ins at school are successful? Do many young people use this service? Such a great idea to make these services more accessible!
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Are any of you from Ethiopia? Have you noticed a difference in the attitudes regarding family planning over the last 10 years?
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Megan Kill replied to Maria Luisa Tejada
It's sad to think that while a woman who is suffering from the loss of a child through a stillbirth or miscarriage can at the same time be criminalized!
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Wow! Great to hear of different approaches being used!
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Interesting to hear about this practice. Do you think there is a way of stopping this?
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If you collect data on the unmet need from a health facility, your data may be biased. Those that attend health facilities may be attending for family planning reasons, or may be more concerned with their health compared to the rest of the population. It may be that you find higher contraceptive use compared to the general population. It would be better to...
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Nice to hear your experiences in different countries!
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It's very important that the women know the potential side effects. If one woman has a bad experience with them, she may tell her family and friends not to use them too!
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Thank you for the links, Fawzi!
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Megan Kill replied to Juliet Kawuba
We have a really good case study at the end of the week on Ethiopia's progress on providing family planning services! Many good things have happened, but they are still facing some challenges. Hope you enjoy it!
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Megan Kill replied to iyabode azeez
We will discuss the challenges faced in delivering family planning services in more detail later in the week. Hope you enjoy the discussions there!
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Megan Kill replied to fawzi atshan
Thank you for sharing this!
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Megan Kill replied to Marion Baudry
Hi Marion! We will be sending out an email that clarifies any confusion about the week's content. It will include clarification points about the discussion in step 1.16, but the quickest way is to look at the 'Most liked' discussion comments (link at the top of the comments section in each step). Hope that helps!
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Megan Kill replied to Janice Finlayson
Sorry about that Janice! I have added it now to the platform. Let me know if you have any problems now accessing it.
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It's nice to hear about the situation in different contexts! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
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It's actually a rate that is produced based on current age-specific fertility rates (number of live births per 1000 women). This figure varies by region, as shown in the graph in the lecture. I think this description of total fertility rate may be helpful: ...
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Interesting to hear your thoughts, Okot! I think you will really enjoy next week's material on reproductive health. We go into further detail about family planning and the challenges and barriers that are faced around the world.
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I agree! We go into further detail about adolescent mental health in Step 1.11.
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Thank you for sharing, Delia!
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Great to hear from you both and your personal experiences! And nice to know that things are changing and access to healthcare for adolescents is increasing.
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Very interesting! Is it available online? If so, where?
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Hi Onoriode, we will come on to this topic later in the course. But a quick answer is that the EVD infected individual must pass through the 'latent period', which is the time from becoming infected with the virus to the onset of infectiousness. This varies greatly by infectious agent. Again, this topic is explained fully in later steps.
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The food source of the bat is not the only way they can become a carrier for the virus. It is not clear how they become carriers, just that once they become carriers they do not manifest symptoms of EVD as seen in humans and chimpanzees. There are many unknowns relating to this topic, but hopefully more research will give us a better understanding.
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We will get into the topic of preventing the spread of the virus in later steps in the course. Hope you are enjoying it!
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Thank you for the clarification, Ekua. That's correct. It is not airborne.
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Hi Dariga! I just want to make sure that you are clear that the video is not saying women were more likely to get infected by EVD, but that because of the practices of the antenatal clinic (e.g. reusing the same 5 needles and syringes every day) there were many women infected in this particular outbreak. Hopefully this will become more clear as the course...
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Megan Kill replied to Melanie Bromley
Hi Melanie! With EVD, it has been observed that if a patient reaches the hemorrhagic stages he/she won't survive. This is due to the fact that if the patient is that far along in the course of the disease, it is too late for their body to fight back. However, if they do not reach this stage, their chances of survival are much better.
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Wow, what a great read! Thank you, B Sunday Williams!
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Hi Cliff, correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks like the article that you mentioned:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150108084437.htm
Sounds very promising!
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Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, Richard! We hope that these control activities will bring the outbreak under control sooner rather than later.
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Megan Kill replied to Sarah S
Hi Sarah! This will be covered in a later session. There are many strategies from preventing it from spreading, and it is quite controversial.
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Megan Kill replied to Calum McPherson
Hi Calum! Quarantine and isolation are discussed in later sessions. A quick answer is that an infected person should be isolated at the first sign of symptoms, as this is when they become infectious to to others.
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Megan Kill replied to Vivian Dockett
Details on quarantine are discussed in a later section. This is a very controversial topic.
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Megan Kill replied to Paul Clemens Pitzinger
Thats is very true Paul! In fact, researchers are in the process of developing new diagnostic tests for this purpose.
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When injected with the Ebola virus, fruit bats are the only animals that can live and carry the virus in them. All other animals tested subsequently died.
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That's correct Hayley. The Ebola virus is not transmitted through aerosols, as in TB, influenza, etc. It can however be spread through droplets. The difference between the two ways of transmission, is that aerosols are very small and can travel long distances, while droplets are larger and cannot travel through the air.
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Megan Kill replied to Kirsty Harris
There are many myths and misconceptions about Ebola; I hope this course helps you to debunk them and to understand the truths and realities of the situation in West Africa!
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Megan Kill replied to James Kaprie Kanu
We hope you enjoy the course (and find it useful)! It will be great to hear about your first hand experiences.
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Megan Kill replied to Khoti Gausi
Great to hear from someone involved in the control efforts! Hope you enjoy the course!
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Megan Kill replied to ALKALI BOMOI KALLI
Thank you! We hope you enjoy it!
