The unsung heroes of health research – A conversation with Anda, a study site coordinator of the GIFT project

Anda Madikida, a study coordinator at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Cape Town, has been instrumental in the Genital Inflammation Test (GIFT) research project. Recently, in an interview with Jive Media Africa, Anda discussed her responsibilities and provided valuable insights into her role in this project. With her background as a qualified nurse, Anda also reflected on the broader significance of nursing in South Africa. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Jive:  Can you tell me about your position at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation and your role in the GIFT study?

Anda: My main role is as a study coordinator, so I am responsible for coordinating a participant’s visit and ensuring that the participant moves through the different departments as quickly and seamlessly as possible. Our site is the local, South African site for the GIFT study. I also oversee the ethical approval process for research studies that take place here.

Jive: You’re also a qualified nurse. What led you to transition to study coordinating, and does your nursing background assist you in your role? 

Anda: ​I started as a research nurse at Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, and about six months later, one of the doctors approached me and said, ‘Look, I would like you to try out as a study coordinator,’ because I was already heavily involved in coordinating one of our big studies. So I gave it a try. I loved it, especially the ethics part, which requires attention to detail. The minute I started, I just flew with it.  

Having worked as a nurse in a public hospital, I’m very good with people. Where the two roles [nursing and coordinating] get meshed together is when we have a patient who, for instance, is upset that they didn’t meet the criteria to take part in a study. That’s where I step in. It’s a matter of being compassionate and being willing to answer the participant’s questions without feeling like you’re being attacked – without feeling like this person is questioning the kind of person that you are, or your job or anything like that. It’s just being able to talk properly with the person.   

Jive:  Can you tell me a bit more about the ethics procedure and what you enjoy about it?  

No study can start without ethics approval. I am responsible for getting the study started, updating the ethics board on happenings during the study, and closing the study when it has come to an end. The purpose of the regulatory body in a nutshell is to ensure that the study being conducted is to for benefit of the general public. The pros should always outweigh the cons of the study being conducted. It is ensuring safety of participants first, and that’s part of the reason I liked it so much. 

Jive: How are participants recruited for studies like GIFT? 

Anda: Some are recruited from the site’s youth clinic, which offers sexual and reproductive health services to young people aged 15-25. Our community workers also go out in the community or recruit people from the government clinic nearby. Word spreads really fast here. If people know that there’s this study happening, they’ll come to find out about it. People show a lot of interest in research aimed at improving population wellbeing. They also want to know how they are doing in terms of their sexual and reproductive health.  We enrolled really fast for GIFT, and that was simply because of word of mouth. 

Jive: What’s your approach if a participant decides during the study visit that they no longer want to take part?

Anda: The nice thing about research is that participants are doing it out of their own free will. Nobody’s forcing you to do anything. The first thing that participants do is sign the study consent form, which clearly says that they can decide to withdraw from the study at any time without it affecting their care at our clinics. The counsellors are involved in making sure that the participant understands what the study is about and what they’re agreeing to, and that they can withdraw if they wish.

Recently, I had a participant who signed a consent form and said she understands everything. But when it came to the point of collecting the swabs, she said no, she’s too scared of the speculum, which is understandable. Maybe she’s never had a speculum inserted before. So, she withdrew from the study without any problems.

For us, it’s about seeing where people are coming from. It’s accepting that sometimes, people are going to say no or change their mind during the study. And that’s ok. We can educate as much as possible, but we don’t force anyone to do what they don’t want to do or what they’re uncomfortable doing.

Jive: Having seen the GIFT device in action in a clinical setting, what role do you think it might play in improving access to STI screening?

Anda: I actually think that a GIFT device is going to be a breakthrough in the public sector. And that’s simply because, when a patient comes to a clinic for family planning, we’ll be able to determine whether they have bacterial vaginosis or an asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection, and we can treat it before it starts causing problems.

Jive: In the wake of International Nurse’s Day, do you have any insights you’d like to share about the role of nurses and the challenges they face in South Africa?

Anda: Our nurses do incredible and hard work, often in under-resourced facilities. However, they are often underappreciated—by patients as well as other professionals. It’s not uncommon to hear comments like, “you’re just a nurse’, despite the extensive knowledge that nursing requires. I think nursing is one of the most noble professions anyone could choose. People don’t go into it because it’s a stable job, or for some other pragmatic reason. It kind of chooses you. You have to be a certain kind of person. It takes kindness, patience, and intelligence to be a nurse. 

One thought on “The unsung heroes of health research – A conversation with Anda, a study site coordinator of the GIFT project

  1. Pakama says:

    Proud of you Anda Madikida my niece. As a young researcher, I pray that the doors can be opened for you to publish papers in South Africa and Internationally in the field of Nursing

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