Marta Røttingen Enden
Marta Røttingen Enden is a medical student following the PhD research track program. Her research project focuses on extended cost-effectiveness analysis of modern contraceptive methods in Ethiopia. She is expected to finish her cand. med in 2024.
Main content
Personal and academic background
When I applied to medical school, I was strongly motivated by the opportunity to engage within the field of global health. To enroll in the research track seemed like an ideal opportunity to spend a year working full time with global health related research while learning from some of the best researchers at our university. As I was (and still am) particularly interested in topics related to pediatrics, maternal health, and sexual and reproductive health, I decided on an exciting project, with professor Ole Frithjof Norheim as an incredibly dedicated and inspiring supervisor, in what must be one of the most welcoming and academically inspiring research group there can be (BCEPS).
Research topic
My research project is titled “Providing universal access to modern contraceptive methods: an extended cost-effectiveness analysis of meeting the unmet demand for modern contraceptive methods in Ethiopia”, and my aim is to look at how an increased use of modern contraceptives in Ethiopia effects both economic and health-related outcomes for women of different socio-economic background. I find the area of sexual and reproductive health, particularly family planning, very interesting as it is a quite cheap health intervention that can be linked to economic development, education and female empowerment.
My experience with the programme
I took several interesting courses, spend time reading up on subjects that fascinate me, and got to know a lot of great people and researchers.
My experiences with the research track programme have been great. I got to visit Ethiopia, to learn more about the setting of my research, and met with people who worked with family planning at hospital level as well as in the ministry of health. Although the covid-19 pandemic interfered with some of my plans, I got to participate in two very interesting online courses at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Future plans
I plan to finish medical school and pursue a clinical career in which I can draw from my experiences with BCEPS.
