What special skills are required of healthcare professionals who serve the most vulnerable people? The answer depends upon that particular needs of those people. Angola’s civil war, 1976 to 2002, was marked by famine that afflicted 2 million people. We who served in that era established re-nutrition centers for the profoundly malnourished. Osteomyelitis (bone infection) was also extremely common. One of the first surgical skills I learned was how to extract infected bone.
The gorilla tactics that characterized Angola’s war were also accompanied by seeding of landmines. Even today, 32,000 acres of confirmed minefields have yet to be cleared, and another 88,000 acres of suspected landmines still exist. During the war years, some 80,000 people – mostly civilians – were killed or injured by these hideous ordinances. And no surprise, even today people in Angola continue to lose legs and lives to land mines.
How are your skills with landmine injuries? Critical care and surgical skills are essential. But for these victims so are rehabilitation, prosthetic, and re-socialization skills. How can you increase your capacity to care for these people? Publications like this booklet, which we keep here at CEML Hospital, provide a grounding. Better yet, come out and work alongside us day-by-day. As you serve, you will also learn the unique skills essential to aid those must vulnerable.