Essex: Woman of the Year title for Mutel

Last month she was awarded the prestigious Woman of the Year title for her pioneering Health promotion work.

Here she talks to SUSAN KING

Mutel Kerr is modest and a little mystified about her newly acquired Woman of the Year status.

''It's unbelievable,'' she said. ''Absolutely unbelievable -- and I still have no idea who nominated me.''

However, when Mutel took her place at a glittering lunch organised in London's Cafe Royal last month by the Leadership Trust Foundation, there was no mystery about her right to be there.

A senior lecturer in the university's school of community health and social studies her pioneering work both in this country and abroad has earned her a place at the forefront of world health promotion.

She is a founder member of HIV International, which works to help the growing number of HIV and AIDS victims in South Africa, as well as being an active member of charities including the Voluntary Organisation for Underprivileged Children, the HIV Consortium, Lignum Vitae -- a charity run by Jamaican women -- and the Anti Racist Alliance.

Mutel said: ''My passion is that health promotion must be part of student nurses basic training because they will be the health providers of the future.''

''I believe in getting people to take responsibility for their own health and the health of their communities, but political issues must also be taken into account.

''Health is a collective as much as an individual issue, we must have the right structures in place and not end up blaming victims for their problems.''

Mutel, who was born in Jamaica, trained as a nurse and midwife. After completing her degree she studied for a Master's degree at the Colchester Institute for health services.

As part of her study of teenage pregnancy, she developed a drama workshop, which has become the basis of her ground breaking health promotion package CHOICE (Choose Health Over Ill-health, Choose Education) now used across the UK and beyond.

CHOICE can be used to address any health issue -- pregnancy, drugs and alcohol abuse, smoking --through drama and role play, Mutel explained.

Commitment

She is now developing her work to PhD level, with the backing of Anglia Polytechnic University and the South Bank University.

Her deep commitment to health promotion have led her to South Africa, where she now spends most of her holidays, working with post-apartheid communities struggling to cope with the ever escalating incidence of HIV and AIDS.

Mutel explains: ''I've always had an interest in working in South Africa, because of the struggle there against apartheid and because of the deep affection I have for Nelson Mandela.

''I also wanted to share the information I was gaining with people in other countries.''

She first spent three weeks in the country in 1997 a time she describes as ''wonderful,'' with young people just so eager to learn.

''I was standing in packed halls, full of people waiting to listen to what I had to say about health promotion.

''Whenever I talk about it I get the pleasure back of knowing that the value that was put on what I had to offer was over and above expectation.''

She has since returned, working with local priests on how they can best help their congregations as they struggle with health problems.

Grim facts

Health is a huge issue in Africa, Mutel explains and the facts are grim.

''The statistics are too high and completely unimaginable to use," she said.

''When I was in Soweto I was literally running from one school to the next, I saw schools where every child is HIV positive.

''Sometimes the experience almost destroyed me, but left me with the feeling that I could not do enough. It is the young people who will always take me back to South Africa.''

Part of Mutel's work includes awareness raising and counselling, striving to take away the stigma and taboo that surrounds HIV and AIDS.

She believes firmly that nurses, working within communities, are the key to this.

''In developing countries especially, the role of the nurse is extended,'' she said.

Mutel would like to see extra post-basic training to equip nurses for work in communities in crisis, skills exchange between the developed and developing world and specialist training in HIV and AIDS.

"Local nurses know the language, the culture, the people so it's easier for them to get the message across.

''Too often we look for hI-tech answers, but sometimes the simplest answers are the best and are staring us in the face.''

Accolade

While Mutel's ambitions remain to continue and develop the work that has been her life for so many years, she says that her proudest moment was when she received the Woman of the Year accolade.

''It was the feeling of achievement, of value, to be recognised for doing something worthwhile.

''It's hard work but fun, work I enjoy.''

Woman of the year: Mutel Kerr.

By Susan King

Reporter's e-mail: susan.king@essex-chronicle.co.uk

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