Nurse reflects on 'unforgettable' two-month placement in southern Africa

A nurse who spent two months with clinicians and patients in the southern African country of Lesotho has reflected on her "unforgettable" experience.

Hibaq Musa, an Associate Clinical Nurse Specialist in Infection Prevention and Control, took part in the Welsh Government-funded International Learning Opportunities (ILO) programme.

The exciting placement offered her the chance to work alongside fellow health workers in Lesotho, share her expertise in IP&C and enhance her leadership skills.

Between October and December 2023, Hibaq was situated in Quthing, a remote district around three hours from the capital of Maseru, where she became fully integrated into the community.

“It was an eye-opening experience, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed,” she said.

As there was no specific IP&C department in the district hospital, Hibaq said she was paired with the Environmental Public Health Officer to help understand more about the challenges faced in the area.

“Each district in Lesotho came together once a month to share what they’re doing and how they can support each other, which I thought was incredibly useful,” she said.

“I helped with the education side of things and tried to enhance joint working. We say in IP&C that preventing and controlling infections is everyone’s responsibility from the staff to the patients to the visitors. I was able to train up non-clinical staff in IP&C, such as housekeeping and catering, along with some members of the community.”

Hibaq, 27, said one of the biggest challenges was controlling the spread of measles in a district where vaccination rates were incredibly low.

“In Wales we have the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, but because measles rates were so low [in Quthing] they only had a mumps and rubella (MR) vaccine,” she explained.

“They hadn’t had measles cases for a number of years, but suddenly about two months before I arrived they were seeing them. Parents weren’t understanding why they needed to vaccinate as they’d never seen measles before, or they didn’t really understand the symptoms.

“There was a lot of work to do to educate the public and schools about the harms measles can cause without the vaccine. There were, unfortunately, a lot of children who were quite sick and had to go to the hospital in the capital city as our district hospital was too small.”

Lesotho is described as the “kingdom in the sky” due to its variety of mountain ranges. “A lot of people still live on top of these mountains, so access to them was sometimes difficult. I also had to acclimatise myself which took me a while,” she said.

“If I’m dealing with an outbreak or cases here in Wales, I can call up or visit the affected ward. But over there, we found ourselves having to hike - or even ride a horse up the mountains as the car could only take you so far.

“I was such a confident horse rider by the end of the placement.”

On 2 May, 2024 the king of Lesotho visited Cardiff as part of a tour around Europe – and Hibaq was invited along as part of the welcoming party.

“The king was already aware of the ILO programme, so it was nice having that recognition,” she added.

Yvonne Hyde, Health of Nursing Infection Prevention and Control, said: “I am extremely proud to have Hibaq working with us in IP&C. She has achieved a huge amount since joining the team in 2021 and is a well-loved and valued colleague.”