PROFILE: Rachel Musomba Zimaze, IDI's Quality Manager
Rachel Musomba Zimaze grew up "humbly" in the village of Gayaza, Uganda. Her mother was housewife and her father a farmer and butcher. A good primary and secondary school student, Musomba attended Makerere University, earning a degree in Social Sciences in 2007. She later went on to earn a Master's in Public Health at International Health Science University. Now married, Musomba has two biological children, James and Deborah, and an adopted daughter LeanLeah.
Musomba describes herself as down to earth, with the ability to mingle with all classes of people and possessing great attention to detail. At IDI, she had been serving as Quality Assurance and Quality Control Coordinator for two years when Inka Schuermann, a Pfizer Global Health Fellow, joined the department. Schuermann counseled IDI that, to ensure continuity in the improvements she was introducing to the organization, a quality manager should be named. The department heads selected Musomba.
The Schuermann-Musomba Partnership:
The women worked side-by-side for four months to strengthen IDI's quality assurance systems. "Inka was very generous with her time," said Musomba. "We regularly ate together in her office." Musomba describes how Inka played with the patients' children as they waited to be attended to during break and lunch time. "She shared her weekends with nearby families, orphaned children, and other people in Kampala. In addition to me, she supported and made many friends here."
Musomba describes the many things she learned from Schuermann, especially in planning out her work. "I have learned to have deadlines and a time line," said Musomba. She now better understands the importance of having quality systems in place and sees how the lessons she has learned are helping both IDI and also the many organizations that IDI supports. She said that delivering patient care is not just about numbers but, more importantly, about the quality of the services.
What's Next:
Professionally and personally, Musomba believes that her appointment to quality manager is helping her career growth. "It's a job I didn't ever dream about," she said. When Schuermann returned to her Pfizer office in Berlin, Musomba took the reins in coordinating quality assurance activities department-wide. She is supporting the efforts of IDI's unit heads by providing oversight of self-monitoring activities, reviewing new or revised quality records including SOPs, working instructions, guidelines, forms, templates, logs, and labels all geared towards quality improvement for IDI.
Musomba describes the task of writing SOPs as challenging for many staff members. "I feel great about helping and training people to write them," she said reflecting on a recent course she taught to IDI data managers. Her role has increased her confidence in her own ability to excel. She reports that she is seeking scholarships to pursue a PhD in quality systems.
Musomba describes the Pfizer Global Health Fellowship program as helpful for IDI staff, for patients, and "for Africa at large" since IDI provides training and capacity building to organizations throughout the continent. She is glad to play a part in helping people throughout Africa live better lives.
- Learn more about Inka Schuermann, Pfizer Global Health Fellow
Read about other Pfizer Global Health Fellows' colleagues at IDI:
