Zulu medicine

January 21st, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized

a standard part of every history i take is the question “have you had zulu medicine?’ if the patient answers yes you can bet they are very sick and are about to get even worse. i’ve seen many children come in with simple gastroenteritis (diarrhea and vomiting), which is not a big deal and very easily treated. the problem starts after the mom fesses up that the child received zulu medicine. zulu medicine can be anything. most often it is roots, herbs, grass, various fluids from around the house/garage that is inserted into any opening (rear end most frequently). we have no idea what they have used or what quanities and it’s very dangerous. doctors have seen kids go into liver failure, kidney failure, sepsis, respiratory failure, and many times die. since i’ve been here i have seen 2 kids come with simple diarrhea that have had to be intubated and shipped off as a result of the zulu medicine. i wrote about one last week i think and another kid came in last night. (the one from last week is doing wonderful, she came into the clinic yesterday bright eyed and healthy!) unfortunately it’s so hard to explain to patients that zulu medicine is what is causing them to be so sick. they see a sick child, give zulu meds, see the child get worse, take them to the hospital, if the child gets worse while here they blame ‘the white medicine’.  

we tell moms not to do zulu meds but i’m not sure they understand just how dangerous it is. and it’s such a part of their culture that many shrug off our warnings. i wonder what the best approach is to educating them?

i guess there are other battles here besides HIV/AIDS and they will take just as long to fight.

  1. One Response to “Zulu medicine”

  2. By Taylor on Jan 21, 2009

    Hi Mill! Wow, it’s amazing how different countries are and how greatly the cultures can effect them. I’m sure it’s very frustrating for you, knowing what the problem is and not being able to make them understand it. I guess some things can only be left in God’s hands. It is a shame though that you have so much knowledge to offer and they can’t/don’t want to understand. Enjoy the rest of your time there! I can’t wait to hear more about it “in person” (over the phone) :-)

    Love you!
    Taylor

Post a Comment