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Naomi lends a hand on the road less travelled

Friday August 1, 2008

Highly successful Sales Representative Naomi Leonard is about to swap the creature comforts of suburban Perth for the rigours of life in central Africa – and a very personal quest to make the world a better place.

Naomi’s four-month odyssey to the Rwandan capital of Kigali has been made possible by her employer Pfizer Inc – the world’s leading provider of prescription medicines and animal health products. The company established the Pfizer Global Health Fellows Program in 2003 and has since sent more than 150 employees from around the world to Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America to share their talents and skills and establish health-related programs that can be sustained by local communities.

“Healthcare is so vitally important in any community – particularly for those who are disadvantaged,” Naomi said. “I love to travel. Being able to go overseas, immerse myself in another culture and possibly assist in making sustainable improvements in health practice at the same time is an incredible opportunity for me.”

This is far from a first foray into philanthropy for Naomi, who is also a registered nurse. She initiated Pfizer Australia WA’s relationship with its local Ronald McDonald House – where staff periodically shop, cook and serve dinner for families whose children are grappling with serious illnesses and volunteered for a short assignment in India for Equal Health (providing healthcare to patients in remove villages).

Ophthalmology (the study of the eye and eye diseases) is a particular interest. “It really fascinates me as a field of medicine,” she said. “This small part holds as much complexity as the rest of the entire body – it is like a different world.”

Kigali will provide yet another unique experience. Two Pfizer colleagues about to complete their Fellowships have briefed Naomi on what to expect. Lush, mountainous and picturesque, Kigali is the most densely populated city in Africa. With a population nudging one million, it battles debilitating illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Naomi already has some valuable insights into community spirit Kigali-style. “Once a month, each local village holds a community day where the entire village pitches in to a major task, which may be collecting rubbish, painting a school or planting trees,” she explained. “The Rwandan people have a great respect for the past and its tragedies, but they are a community that is very much focussed on the future.”

The Pfizer Global Health Fellows Program is implemented in partnership with leading non-government organisations around the world – in Naomi’s case, the Columbia University’s Earth Institute Access Project.

Based in a hospital pharmacy on the outskirts of Kigali, her two-fold mission will be to develop stock control and procurement procedures that will help local communities to self-manage aspects of their own healthcare. Specifically, this will include developing a database for hospital staff to use to help them manage stock levels and forecast future medical needs, as well as identifying and comparing avenues of supply for medicines that will be at the lowest possible price for the local community.

And making those projects ongoing concerns is right at the top of Naomi’s agenda.

“I really want to know that the projects I start can be implemented and utilised beyond my stay in the country,” Naomi said. “That will be the real test of success.”