Egypt:

Mobile Clinic Reveals Malaria Outbreak

The mobile clinic we held in Lodos Village was of great help to the villagers. In the village we found almost everybody suffering from malaria. The pastor in this village had informed our health team that many patients had severe symptoms of malaria. The village and its outskirts had received a lot of rain which attracted many people from far villages to move there in search of grass for their animals. Therefore, there were many people staying near the bodies of water, which provides a habitat for the mosquitoes carrying malaria

We had enough antimalarial medicine, so they could start treatment immediately upon our arrival. Besides malaria and respiratory diseases, a good number of children were not immunized and were lucky because we had vaccines on hand to immunize them. All the sick benefited since we had enough medicines and did not run out. We also distributed food supplied through UNICEF to various health facilities for distribution in semi-arid areas in the country. The villagers were grateful for the medical clinic; they compared it to rainy season when there is plenty of food for everyone.

After treatment we promised them a follow up visit after a week. When we returned, we found the village was in a good state and promised them to come soon for another mobile clinic.

Local School Health Program

During the month of June, the staff provided intensive public health education as part of the local school health program. We visited several schools and offered health education on various topics that included good hygiene practices, HIV/AIDS, and deworming of school children. Moreover, we were able to screen the sick children and give them the necessary treatment. We have made this service a part of the routine outreach clinics in the rural villages. Rural villages with schools really benefit from such programs. Some members from the health team teach and treat at the school while the rest see the other patients in the village.

Sometimes if there is no space in the school building, the children are treated outside the school building as part of the medical outreach but separate from the routine evaluation of all the villagers. It has been fun and interesting to work with the children.

Saving the Life of a Young Pregnant Woman

In the month of May, the team managed to save the life of a young pregnant lady who was past her expected due date. Martha, 24 years old, from Lodos Village had a pregnancy that was late by a month. An elder from the village called the health team and explained the situation of this young mother from his village whose expected date of delivery was causing worry since it was very delayed.

After two hours, a staff member went out with the clinic vehicle to assess the mother for possible referral if necessary. The staff member confirmed the situation and found the need to refer the mother to Lodwar hospital for further management. In Lodwar hospital, the mother was evaluated by a gynecologist, and labor was induced.

After six hours, she gave birth to a living male infant whose weight at birth was 3.5 kilograms. The mother gave birth with no difficulties. She stayed at the hospital for one day and then was discharged home with her baby. Martha was full of joy on discharge. She related to us the very worried atmosphere that had surrounded her when her labor was delayed. Her neighbors had been talking of her pregnancy and saying that it may not come out well since it had taken so long. She was grateful for the good the program did to save her and her baby since she had no money to go to the hospital, although the government provides some free maternity services in the country. We gave her transportation back home and on arrival her relatives and neighbors received her and her baby with joy. The elders thanked our team for doing such a good job among the Turkana and especially their village which is far from any health facilities. One elder told us that their village has been existing ‘under the mercy of God’ and that the arrival of the health program in the village has really helped people a lot since there is now a monthly medical outreach in the village.