Through a grant from Medtronic, IntraHealth has trained five health workers (in the US, Brazil, South Africa, Uganda, and India) in advocacy-oriented storytelling—basically communications training to help them represent their communities’ needs in national dialogues and even global policy discussions. The results are pretty cool. They have spoken all over the world, at conferences, a US Congressional briefing, at the World Health Assembly in Geneva and taken on leadership roles in their communities and networks.
They were creating a multimedia series about their experiences by shadowing them for a day(ish) and interviewing them on the power of effective and compassionate communication in their work. They asked us to follow Dr. Sanele at the hopsital he works at in a rural town in South Africa.
Dr. Sanele Listen Mandlenkosi Madela was born in the dusty streets of Dundee Sibongile Township in South Africa. He now holds a medical degree from Instituto Superior de Ciencias Medical de Villa Clara (Cuba) and Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Sanele is the MD/founder of Expectra 868 Health Solutions, a non-government organization (NGO) in South Africa focused on community health work. Expectra 868 aims to address the health disparities faced by the community of Umzinyathi District Municipality, where 80% of the population lives in rural areas. Sanele was awarded the 2013 MEC Annual Excellence Award for his contribution to the community based medical education and advocacy of primary health care.