TGIF!

¡Hola!

Quick blog post about the week before I head back to the beach ( <3 <3 <3). This weekend I am going to Montezuma, also in Guanacaste like Playa del Coco, but more south.

Every day brings its challenges, but also the reward of becoming more and more accustomed to this work and research. I feel like my feet are more firmly planted on the ground, which is great (only took me almost half the trip ;P). Even when I don't know how to do something, I have a bit more confidence in my ability to do the work I need to do.

This week we did a lot of work on the Malawi lit review which should be, fingers crossed, completely finished! Yay! I feel better now because I have contributed more, so my name on the World Bank document is worth more than the little I had contributed last week. :P I really enjoyed the research with that. Besides looking at the community-based interventions, I also did a bit of a comprehensive analysis of several studies regarding the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (the combination of 3+ antiretroviral drugs to combat the progression of HIV). It is by no means whatsoever a cure to HIV, but it is truly vital for any HIV-positive individual to enhance his or her health as much as possible. There are a lot of challenges to providing ART to HIV-positive individuals, including money, transportation to clinics, inadequate counseling, and limited access to food. The report I read was specifically talking about some rural communities in Africa, but these aren't uncommon problems in the US, either. The following link provides some stories of HIV-positive US citizens and how the ACA affected their HIV care:

The ACA and People with HIV: Profiles from the Field

The tricky thing with HIV is that it invites a lot of other complications--if you read the brief above, you saw that a lot of the interviewees weren't JUST struggling with HIV, but a multitude of other really horrible (and horribly expensive, for that matter) conditions. Reading stories like these are a reminder of the good & the bad of the ACA: the good being that a lot more people have access to healthcare because of expanded coverage, and the bad being the gaps that still exist, plus the seemingly never-ending organizational issues.

Wednesday was a long, long day. I was given an assignment regarding the data analysis of another HIV project in Myanmar a little bit before I left work. My boss wanted it by 10:00pm San Jose time, so I started it around 7:00, thinking I would be fine (she had told me it would only take an hour). Unfortunately, a lot of the data was organized in a very strange way, and some of the calculations I needed had not been completed. I had a Skype call with my boss and we hammered out some of the issues, but because of those issues the assignment took about 4.5 hours instead of 1. :p I went to bed around midnight, which is actually pretty impressive for me here in Costa Rica. On work nights, I am normally ready for sleep around 9:00 pm. This is in part due to the fact that the sun rises here around 5:30 am, and I am a really light sleeper. :p

Thursday was a bit slower, as most of the busy work had been completed Monday-Wednesday. I spent the morning looking up composite indices to measure health production. It was really challenging because these indices require some pretty complicated algorithms; I didn't understand a lot of it, but it seemed pretty interesting. I won't bother trying to summarize it here because I still don't really have a good understanding. I had a lot of fun last night; I went out to dinner with Faye, Alex, and Eve to celebrate Eve's last week in San Jose. She returns to France tomorrow. We had some good casado AND finally tres leches cake. Mmmmm!!

In not-so-good news, I've been feeling kind of weird lately (physically, not emotionally--well, I am always a little emotionally weird here, but nothing out of the ordinary :p). I woke up last night shivering like crazy with cold sweats, even though, to the touch, I was very, very warm--possibly fevered. I've been struggling with headaches the past couple of days. I took some medicine so it isn't quite as bad right now. I've been quite fatigued and a little achy, too, but I think that might just be from zumba. :p LOL, sooooo let's just hope I'm a little dehydrated or sleepy or something not too serious. :P The last thing I need right now is to be sick! But, I am equipped with a full first-aid kit and several copies of my health insurance card and claims forms--in the event that I do fall a bit ill, I am prepared! But here's to hoping I stay healthy.

Alright, off to the beach! Another weekend of sun & relaxation & hopefully more sleep! ¡Hasta luego, amigos!