Today I write from the 5th China National Congress on General Practice, in Shenyang, China, where I just presented Health is Wealth. Indeed, health is in ongoing crisis throughout the world. In every nation, cost is high and growing. Access is low for those separated by distance or insufficient finances. And, quality care is difficult to […]
One of the greatest challenges in public health is forgetfulness. We forget that just until the 1960s, measles was consistently one of the leading causes of death among children worldwide, accounting for an estimated 20 to 30 percent of such deaths. Today, measles nevertheless continues to be a leading cause of vaccine-preventable childhood mortality,
Skillful health care for culturally diverse people in low-resources settings will be an extreme test of your clinical abilities. Just imagine the challenges you might face serving in the wake of Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria, Congo’s growing Ebola epidemic, or even California’s persistent measles outbreaks. This fall, INMED is offering our series of
One of the most daunting challenges in low-resource healthcare is the gathering of reliable data with which to guide interventions. Now comes new data from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, a former INMED Training Site, in Malawi, Southern Africa, indicating that the number of newborns dying from sepsis is rapidly accelerating. Sepsis is a bacterial
Most persons returning home from a significant cross-cultural journey go through a very unique experience termed cross-cultural reentry, reverse culture shock, or reentry shock. I experience this each time I return from Angola or China, and it consists of disorientation over relationships, economic life, activity expectations, and even attention span. These multi-fold disorientations
Abundantly illustrative: Oscar Paulo and I, saying farewell at the International Airport in Lubango, southern Angola. I am returning to the US until I journey back next July. Oscar is soldiering on here in his home country. Let me give you a glimpse into the character of Oscar Paulo: Professional. Oscar completed specialty
“你们为什么在非洲？”是因为我们在这里工作！Twice this month I enjoyed caring for patients from China here at CEML Hospital. It’s an understatement that they express surprise to hear their native language spoken by a North American on location in southern Africa. The even greater surprise may be that they are even here to begin with, and here by the
“Your ambition is to make a career of medical missions? “No serious skills are necessary. “You don’t need to finish med school or even complete residency training. “Just go do it.” These were the skeptical words of one professor of mine some time ago. He made it clear that I was wasting my
Pictured here with me are 37 nurse practitioners from the rural clinics associated with Kalukembe Hospital – CEML‘s sister facility. Many of these health posts are not connected by road, function without electricity, and are chronically short supplied. Yet these are were most Angolans first present with obstructed labor, convulsions, cerebral malaria, and all
This woman’s loving son guided her into my consultation room, where she awkwardly sat down and began describing to me her persistent cough. During the conversation, she never once looked at me. In fact, her two eyes seemed to wander – and now always in union. After a few moments, I waved my hand