Good to meet you ... Ewan Wilkinson
Good to meet you … Ewan Wilkinson
I work at the University of Chester. I grew up in Kenya, which had a huge influence on my life and shaped my ambition of becoming a doctor in rural Africa – which I did for several years with my wife in Malawi. It was a brilliant experience and Malawi is a beautiful country but after some time working there I realised I wanted to do more than just handing out tablets, so I began doing work on health programmes. Many of the diseases I had been treating were preventable and could be avoided by better nutrition or cleaner water. I worked as a health officer in a local district hospital where I was responsible for half a million people. We did improve the level of community mental healthcare and bring services to individuals who previously had no access to support.
I now work part time at the University of Chester as a professor of global public health. This Sunday we are off to Uganda to do some work on public health and mental healthcare services.
I read the Guardian because I value its commitment to international news and development – other newspapers can be quite xenophobic. I find many of the articles in the Guardian very thought-provoking – one about climate change made me think very differently. One thing I would like to change is perhaps more focus on how much we do have to be thankful for in our country. I am not disputing that services such as healthcare cannot be improved, but my work constantly reminds me of how much we have to be grateful for and I think this could be passed on.