Making rounds at Baptist Medical Center in Ghana – up near the northern border with Burkina Faso. Stunningly, a quarter of our hospital patients are here for snake bit! Now is the rainy season, when farmers are scrambling out to their fields to plant corn and millet. And awaiting in the foliage is this […]
Questions the complacency with which some people approach “routine vaccinations.” Tonight, here in Ghana we are treating this child of four who is suffering from tetanus. His jaw is locked closed and any sudden noise causes his arms and legs to spasm violently. He has no puncture wound – most people with tetanus don’t
Here at Lubango Evangelical Medical Center it is the nurse practitioners that first attend to those coming for care. Paulo and Miguel are skilled, thoughtful, and can manage most individuals just fine. For me, they save the more complicated cases. Today, first, these included a four-year old girl who was growing normally until struck with
At the height of the Angolan Civil War I was living in the central city of Huambo. The city was patrolled by day by the MPLA military force, and by night by the opposing UNITA force. Confrontations were like clockwork. As the sun was setting, I would hear explosions in the distance, and as
All of us involved in ‘global health’ agree with the imperative of preventive care and relief from poverty. But nevertheless, people will still suffer from emergencies – situations in which urgent care is truly lifesaving. Enter Paulo Buaki. A native Angolan, Dr. Buaki completed his surgical residency with the renowned Pan-African College of Christian Surgeons.
This is a question very few, if any, neonatologist ever faces in wealthier communities. Today I met this mother and her three-week old infant, who stopped nursing yesterday. Malaria is so very common here, even in the dry season, that the standard thick smear blood test is part of the work up of anyone
This morning I arrived to find this man, who arrived with a history of weight loss (check out the cheek bones), abdominal pain, and cough for three months. One of the greatest challenges of ‘practicing medicine’ in this setting is the lack of testing available. In North America, he would immediately have a CT
Several of you have written questioning whether we ever take any time off. Angola’s health crisis is a chronic one, and I totally resonate with the wisdom of enjoying some creative breaks from the action. On July 4th, while most American’s were igniting explosive devices, I took off with a group of Canadians and
This lady, Cicilia, was riding along on the back of a Mosquito – these ubiquitous 50 cc motorbikes that scurry around the pot holes that make up Angola’s roadways. Her husband was driving, carrying their son on the handlebars. With one stout, unexpected jolt the lady was thrown to the rocks, lacerating her thigh
Early death is an inconsolable fact of life. In the world’s poorest nations, like Angola from where I’m writing now, a quarter of children die before reaching school age, and adults can hardly expect to live much beyond age forty. Such disturbing truths motivate many healthcare professionals to do something bold on behalf of