Actuarial Scienists beware, a zoologist is about!
Trip Start
May 25, 2005
1
16
283
Trip End
Ongoing
University of Cape Town,
South Africa
Monday, June 27, 2005
Anyway, today was the first day of a course on software designed to model the impact of HIV. It will comprise of a week spent in lectures and the computer lab, looking at all the variables associated with disease and statistics. It's quite a mixed audience, but I stand alone as the only non-actuarial scientist in the room. I was slightly shaken to realise that the reason most people were on the course was to use the software for insurance designations. In short, how will HIV affect my workforce and will it be cheaper to give sick employees ARV treatment or simply train someone new? Money, money, money
Art and the telephone
. That summary may be a little harsh, but standing among so many statisticians, I realised how important 'inter-disciplinary science' muct be for any successful scientific reserach.
Disease is an intricate parameter to quantify. How do you factor in the medical and social aspects to disease management? Why does ARV treatment work in some and not others, and how does the rest of the environment alter how people regard medicine? Perhaps not everyone even wants to take the ARV's due to side-effects and social stigma. And what happens if you get TB too, or malaria? Goodness. So trying to create software that can give a researcher the ability to increase of decrease all these factors seems a little beyond reach.
Apparently not. There appear to be some incredible minds operating at UCT. Some of the professors have dedicated their lives to predicting the potential for HIV and AIDS to affect populations over the next 50 years. How many people will need medicine? How many people will survive and for how long? How many people will never formally be diagnosed?
Today has definitely given me a fresh perspective on my project, a new set of hurdles to jump and a desire to take my ambitions to the next level. There is always something that can be done.
After eating in the dining hall I walked back across campus to consider the day. I noticed a set of old dark wooden doors that were slightly open, and in a room filled with chandeliers and ornate decoration I joined some students to watch Wimbledon on the tiny TV. Life has so many things to offer, but is it just luck if you are born into the right situation? How many Venus genius sports people, scientists, artists and community leaders go undiscovered in areas wrecked with disease? Yes, there's always something that can be done.
