As a resident physician I spent a summer in Burkina Faso – an impoverished nation in West Africa. For years a group of nurses with SIM (Serving In Mission) had been living on site, providing community health and clinic care in this remote, hot, and culturally distinct community. As I attended to ill patients, […]
The seven-year old girl, Maria, in this photo presents to you at the Clinical Evangelica Morava on the remote western coast of Honduras. Her parents explain that five days ago she suddenly developed fever, vomiting, severe headache, and pain on moving her eyes. Several other children in the neighborhood have been similarly ill since
One very early morning I heard a quite thump at the door. Opening it, I gazed out on to the little courtyard of my home in Huambo, Angola. Edwardo, a young pastor, stood clutching his four-year old son. The child was gasping and drooling, his little black body darker from cyanosis – insufficient oxygen.
As a kid, I noticed that my cousin Roger walked with a significant limp. He began wearing an elevated shoe to stabilize his gait. This was a result of polio he suffered in the 1950s – a time when the disease was rampant in the United States. Effective vaccines all but eliminated US polio
This child is going blind as a result of scaring to his cornea. Some 250,000 to 500,000 children in low-resource communities throughout Africa and the Indian subcontinent go blind each year from dietary deficiency of vitamin A. Severe deficiency causes irreversible corneal damage, leading to partial or total visual impairment. Startlingly, about half of
The two-year old child in this photo presents to your health center in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Family members explain that eight months ago their farm was attacked by bandits. No one in the family, including this child named Aamir, has eaten regularly since then. What’s more, Aamir in recent days has
When Bill Gates or Bill Clinton have an important announcement, whom do they call? CNN, FOX, and MSNBC – of course. But when God announced the birth of our Messiah, he chose the lowest people in society – the equivalent of our landscapers and waste collectors – to receive and disseminate the news. Luke
Why would a young, successful healthcare professional intentionally serve in an inner city core? What would make him or her deliberately seek opportunities to care for the poor? The answers may inspire you! Consider Jeremy Kirchoff. As a family medicine resident he enrolled in the INMED International Medicine Certificate, studying at the Baptist Medical
Contemplate for a moment the impact of war upon health… During World War I, roughly 5 percent of causalities were among civilians. In World War II, this figure rose to 50 percent. In the wars since 1980, fully 80 percent of deaths have been inflicted upon CIVILIANS. The British Medical Journal reported in 2002:
Over the last four days Nicholas Comninellis been representing INMED at the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Distinct from the INMED Exploring Medical Missions Conference, this event emphasizes more the spiritual dimension of caring for the poor. The encouragement we received through this event was just overwhelming. Former INMED students came by