November 6, 2026

As part of her MPH in Epidemiology at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, Kayla Adae-Mensah evaluated a community public health initiative thousands of miles from Philadelphia.

For her Applied Practical Experience (APE), Kayla worked remotely with YOU at Heart Foundation (YAHF), a nonprofit organization in Ghana, to evaluate the organization’s Mergina Borehole Project.

"I currently split my time between Ghana and the US, so the flexibility of the online MPH in Epidemiology program allows me to continue my education while gaining public health experience in Ghana," explained Kayla.

YOU at Heart Foundation’s Mergina Borehole Project provides access to clean water along with health screenings and community outreach.

Kayla’s role focused on looking at the project through an evaluation lens: reviewing existing records, assessing what had been documented, and identifying opportunities to strengthen data collection, monitoring, and follow-up.

The project was a perfect fit for Kayla.

“My connection to YOU at Heart Foundation actually began when I was about 12 years old,” she shared. “I had the opportunity to volunteer with the organization, and that experience stayed with me. I remember seeing how much of a difference their work made in a community in Ghana that seemed to have been forgotten or overlooked. At that age, I didn't fully understand public health, but I understood that something as simple as showing up for a community and providing basic resources could make a real difference in people's lives.”

Years later, working on the Mergina Borehole Project felt like coming full circle for Kayla.

“I've always been interested in health disparities and the challenges that underserved communities face, especially in Ghana. Access to clean water is something many of us take for granted, but for some communities, it can affect nearly every part of daily life, from health and education to quality of life,” said Kayla.

As part of her evaluation, Kayla developed recommendations to help YAHF strengthen monitoring and evaluation for future projects. “One of the main things I learnt during my evaluation of the Mergina Borehole Project was that organizations can do meaningful work in communities but still struggle to measure their long-term impact if the right information isn't collected from the beginning,” said Kayla.

“With that in mind, I developed a simple four-step approach: Plan, Record, Follow Up, and Learn. The idea is to encourage organizations to think about evaluation before a project even begins. I wanted my recommendations to be realistic and practical, especially for smaller nonprofit organizations that may not have the resources for complicated evaluation systems.”

Kayla’s recommended steps for organizations include:

• Understanding the community's needs
• Deciding what information to collect
• Documenting activities and challenges
• Following up with the community, and
• Using those findings to improve future projects

“What makes this experience really rewarding is that YOU at Heart Foundation plans to use this approach in an upcoming project focused on health screenings and health education,” she shared. “Knowing that something I developed as part of my academic experience could help shape how future community health projects are carried out means a lot to me.”

Kayla credits her MPH coursework in epidemiology, biostatistics, and research methods for helping her understand the importance of collecting reliable data, identifying gaps in information, and using evidence to make informed decisions.

Beyond the technical skills, she also believes that her MPH education has changed the way she views public health challenges. “When I was younger, I saw community outreach mainly as an opportunity to help people who needed support. While I still believe that is important, I now understand that public health also involves asking deeper questions: Are we reaching the people who need these services the most? How do we know our efforts are making a difference? What can we do to make that impact last?”

“This experience helped me appreciate that epidemiology is not just about numbers and statistics. It is also about understanding the people and communities behind those numbers and using that knowledge to make meaningful improvements. That is something I hope to carry with me throughout my career,” said Kayla.

Any advice for other MPH students who are preparing to work with a community-based organization?

“My biggest advice would be to choose work that genuinely means something to you. It is easy to approach an experience like the APE as another academic requirement to complete, but I think you gain so much more when you allow yourself to become personally invested in the work and the people it is meant to serve,” Kayla shared.

“I would also encourage students to approach community-based organizations with humility and an open mind. We spend so much time in classrooms learning about health disparities, research methods, and interventions, but there is a difference between understanding a problem academically and seeing how it affects people's everyday lives. Communities are not just populations to study or problems to solve. They are made up of people with their own experiences, knowledge, strengths, and needs. I think it is important to listen before assuming we know what is best for them.”

Kayla has continued to be involved with YOU at Heart Foundation and its public health initiatives following the completion of her APE.

“When I volunteered with YOU at Heart Foundation as a child, I never imagined that years later I would return with the knowledge to contribute in a completely different way,” she shared. “That experience taught me that the impact of public health work is not always immediate, and sometimes the experiences that shape us the most are the ones we do not fully understand until years later.”

Kayla’s Simple Four-Step System Developed for the YOU At Heart Foundation:

Interested in gaining community-based experience in epidemiology? Learn more about the MPH in Epidemiology, which is offered both in-person and online.