When people think of Médecins Sans Frontières, they think of a bunch of courageous doctors, running across the front line of a conflict zone, bombs going off all around, carrying a stretcher or three. I mean, they’re not wrong – this does happen. But that’s not everything that defines MSF. In the run up to my departure from Edinburgh, I was asked countless times whether I was a doctor, and received looks of surprise when I said no.

I could be biased and say that we almost wouldn’t need doctors at all if health promotors can get onto the case early to prevent disease outbreaks from happening…

I’m out here working as a Health Promotor, or “IEC Officer” (Information, Education and Communication). Basically, when you have a public health issue, for example, an outbreak of cholera, or an area in which malaria is endemic, we come up with and implement strategies for behaviour change within the population to prevent the transmission of these diseases. Respectively, this could include getting people to wash their hands with soap before eating and after using the toilet etc.; or sleeping under mosquito nets at night.

Read the full article on public health by Izzy Scott Moncrief at Doctors Without Borders