January report 2008

With the clinic open three days every fortnight, the delay in fulltime operations being the frustrating intransigence of the carpenter and welder to finish the work.

Despite this, the health survey, bar a few small hamlets is almost complete with over 350 homes visited and a survey completed for infant mortality, immunisation status, and the family profile. It has given people the opportunity to ask questions and for the aims of the clinic to be made known.

This proactive approach is fundamental if the grim statistics for child and maternal health are to be improved.

It is clear that the baseline we are starting from is depressingly low..

 The case in point in this camp was a child of 2 yrs that was severely malnourished and with a lot of tribal marks over the head and face of the child,you would see a fresh mark on the child's face in the pics and small nicks over the scalp that are from a local healer.

Mother of the child is also undernourished,she is 5 months pregnant and was seen at the antenatal clinic.
The child was brought in with complaints of diarrhea,fever,anorexia and examination revealed that the child was cachetic, severely dehydrated and apathetic
The mother was counselled to place the child on soya beans crayfish mixed with akamu a local carbohydrate diet and milk if the mother can afford it, as she is presently not doing anything

A health care worker has been attached to follow her up and make sure she follows laid down
instructions so that the child does not die as it seems that she is not too keen on the child living.She has a history of losing a child in the past and with her husband not in town to support her,we have taken it upon ourselves to follow her up to make sure all is well with her and the baby                     - Dr Oghumu, Medical Superintendant  30/01/2008

The emphasis on women and childrens health has been stressed throughout the survey period and the attendance is high on each clinic day. This gives the opportunity to establish formal medical records and plan vaccination programs which we hope will start after April when it is hoped that a solar powered fridge will be available, built by a Cambridge team, and using simple replicated components. The system is currently undergoing field trials.

Morning Clinic

 This month 348 patients were treated, besides the survey and Clinic logistics.

The Community has been crucial in helping facilitate the survey and to alleviate the understandable suspicion of householders to questions and data collection.

Volunteer community member 'smoothing the way' for the survey team..

New!  We are constantly seeing children with fever, aware that many we are treating for malaria may infact be suffering from a non-malarial infection. This is dilemma faced by all doctors operating in Malaria endemic regions. We carried out a small study comparing our approach with the use of simple Malaria testing kits. The results were not conclusive for changing treatment protocols, and the sample study small, so we are looking to develop better diagnostics in the future. For those interested, read more...