disease + poor medical care = worried USC

[randolady 1]

Ombeni called me in the middle of the night last night, upset because one of our friends had gotten sick and died. He was in his mid/late-20s and healthy. He started feeling bad... really bad, apparently, because they took him on an 8-hour drive to Dar es Salaam to get medical help. He died two days later, the cause unknown.

I hate this. You know how when you're in love with someone, you can't help but imagine all the things that could go terribly wrong with your relationship? That's me x 1000000, with a fiance living in a developing country on $95/month. I returned from Tanzania in March, with an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever going on there. It's still a problem (who.org is my best friend / worst enemy when I want to be a masochist).

I guess all the things I'm worried about (car crash, RVF, malaria, ect ect ect) wouldn't be as scary if health care in Tanzania was decent (not to mention accessible and affordable for most people). For example, my fiance went to the doctor because he felt congested in his chest. The doctor did some bloodwork and found no cause. But guess what he deduced from the bloodwork! Ombeni has a lot of blood. oh. I asked my fiance if he meant he had high blood pressure, and he said no, it's just what it sounds like: he has a lot of blood. But don't worry, it's a good thing.

[reeses16 8]

I'm so sorry to hear that your friend has died. Tewodrose (Teddy) and I have faced similar things. One of his friends (late 20's healthy) died in December, they said it was TB.

I feel the same anxiety and concerns that you do. Two months after I left Ethiopia, Teddy got malaria and it was really bad. The first time he went to the doctors they told him it was food poisoning. Teddy was convinced it was not. He went back the next day and his condition had deteriorated, they then said it was malaria, gave him meds, and he recovered well.

I knew and understood that medical care was not the best in Ethiopia. But I was surprised when I had first hand experience in the form of 2 hosital visits when I visited Teddy in March. He was having horrible stomach cramps each time we went to the hospital we had to wait a long time, the doctor never took his temperature or blood pressure. But they did do a stool sample. In the end they just treated the symptoms giving him pain medication. The economics and quality of healthcare really trouble me. I understand that Teddy is not the only person with these struggles, but it put it in a different perpective when I sat with him holding him in the waiting room.

On Saturday, Teddy was in a car accident. He was sitting on top of the hood of his friend's parked car, when another car hit the car he was sitting on. He was hurt but it was pretty minor considering how bad it could have been. I wanted him to go to the doctor to get checked out. He said he was fine and didn't want to go. I wanted to insist, but then I remembered the type of medical care he would get. He would spend a lot of time and money, and for what? He's doing well (walking, visiting friends, etc.).

When my family asks about Teddy and I tell them about things like his malaria or the car accident, I can tell they don't understand. Glad you decided to share with us at VJ. A lot of us feel the same way I bet.

-Dodie

Ombeni called me in the middle of the night last night, upset because one of our friends had gotten sick and died. He was in his mid/late-20s and healthy. He started feeling bad... really bad, apparently, because they took him on an 8-hour drive to Dar es Salaam to get medical help. He died two days later, the cause unknown.

I hate this. You know how when you're in love with someone, you can't help but imagine all the things that could go terribly wrong with your relationship? That's me x 1000000, with a fiance living in a developing country on $95/month. I returned from Tanzania in March, with an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever going on there. It's still a problem (who.org is my best friend / worst enemy when I want to be a masochist).

I guess all the things I'm worried about (car crash, RVF, malaria, ect ect ect) wouldn't be as scary if health care in Tanzania was decent (not to mention accessible and affordable for most people). For example, my fiance went to the doctor because he felt congested in his chest. The doctor did some bloodwork and found no cause. But guess what he deduced from the bloodwork! Ombeni has a lot of blood. oh. I asked my fiance if he meant he had high blood pressure, and he said no, it's just what it sounds like: he has a lot of blood. But don't worry, it's a good thing.

[discerned1 0]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Yeah, it is a sad case over there. My fiance had lots of bouts of Malaria and he had it so much that when he gets it, it doesn't last long for him, thankfully. He had an appendectomy a couple months ago and has been having difficulty with his tummy ever since. I just wonder what type of care he was given, seeing that the medical care over there is poor, especially when one doesn't have the money for sufficient first class doctor care. I am thankful though that his mom is a nurse. My fiance also said that while he was in hospital, he literally watched a man die next to him because his family couldn't afford health costs. He said that he had to watch the man suffer miserably in pain and crying. He couldn't do anything to comfort the guy because he was bedridden himself. I was almost in tears. I look on the bright side and just keep telling myself, that he will be here, then he will have the best medical care and attention.

[Zee Bee 61]

Unfortuanately that is the status of health care systems not only in Africa but in other areas of the world.

I have been spending summers in Ghana for the past 20 years and I am still amazed that nothing has been done to improve health care. When I was 10 or 11 I got a rash on my leg and when I went to the hospital they were useless (and I went to the supposedly "best" hospital in the region). Luckily for me, my uncle had some knowledge of herbal medicine and cured me. Fast forward 15 years later, I decide to do some research and find out that if my uncle had not cured me I would most likely would have lost my leg. What is the cure...a shot of penicillin.

This past summer my aunt needed surgery and being a health care professional I decided to travel with her to the hospital to take care of her post op. That was the best decision I have ever made. We had to pay for everything: bandages, gauze, IV drips, needles, EVERYTHING. And when she came out of surgery, us, the family members, had to life her off the gurney and onto her bed because there were not enough nurses. We had to bring her food everyday, water for her to wash herself, change her sheets, all the stuff that comes standard in hospitals here in the US.

Only two examples of many.

As much as I worry about my fiance and my family, I keep reminding myself that this is something they have lived with and their expectations are different from mine. It makes me queasy at times but that is the reality. When my fiance got malaria I made him tell me the medications he was taking so that I could research them and make sure that they were indeed for malaria and that they had no adverse side effects (call me paranoid ).

So what do I do to alleviate my fears...I pray because this is something that is out of my hands....for now.

[a&o 4]

Most of the medical students I've met from Ghana have one goal: to practice medicine in Europe or the U.S. There's a lot of family pressure to do that, too. And now with the immigration bill in the U.S. having the goal to attract skilled workers, the brain drain will intesify. It's very sad.

When O went to the hosptial with a major problem, the doctor gave him five prescriptions to fill (three were antibiotics that did the same thing) and told him he had to pay a dash (bribe). This is common, I've heard.

The good Ghanaian doctors I met in Ghana were trained in Cuba and required to practice in Ghana. Seems to be a good policy.

I always relied on the Where There Is No Doctor book that the Peace Corps gives volunteers. It always turned out to be a better way of diagnosing things than going to the hospital. And you don't need a prescription to get medications, I found. This is all dangerous, but when you see how the doctors in some developing countries work....

One note though: I've heard a lot of good things about Nyaho Clinic in Accra.

[babybunny 2]

Ombeni called me in the middle of the night last night, upset because one of our friends had gotten sick and died. He was in his mid/late-20s and healthy. He started feeling bad... really bad, apparently, because they took him on an 8-hour drive to Dar es Salaam to get medical help. He died two days later, the cause unknown.

I hate this. You know how when you're in love with someone, you can't help but imagine all the things that could go terribly wrong with your relationship? That's me x 1000000, with a fiance living in a developing country on $95/month. I returned from Tanzania in March, with an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever going on there. It's still a problem (who.org is my best friend / worst enemy when I want to be a masochist).

I guess all the things I'm worried about (car crash, RVF, malaria, ect ect ect) wouldn't be as scary if health care in Tanzania was decent (not to mention accessible and affordable for most people). For example, my fiance went to the doctor because he felt congested in his chest. The doctor did some bloodwork and found no cause. But guess what he deduced from the bloodwork! Ombeni has a lot of blood. oh. I asked my fiance if he meant he had high blood pressure, and he said no, it's just what it sounds like: he has a lot of blood. But don't worry, it's a good thing.

I can relate to you . I worried myself sick reading the news in pakistan. there was an earthquake last year that wiped out villages. I worry about bombings. here is what makes me sleep at night.

I talk to my husband before I sleep and after I wake up daily. I thank god he is alive and well.

[Zee Bee 61]

In Ghana Cuban/Cuban trained doctors are the best doctors and we used contacts in the hospital to make sure that my aunt had the best surgeon she could. Luckily for us money was not an issue but for so many others it is. After spending some time with some of them you realize that they are overworked and frustrated with the system and facilities (even though they do their best to help) and they are only required to be there for 2 years (if I am not mistaken) and then they leave. At some points in time this leaves gaps in care between doctors. Hospitals in Accra are better equipped and staffed. Maybe this trend will make its way up to the rural north (where I am from). I've never been to the Nyaho Clinic...I should check it out...

The brain drain from African countries is indeed terrifying because we need all the help we can get. It is true that people do not need prescriptions in order to get medications (at least in Ghana). The good: medicine is readily available. The bad: the widespread use of medication is what has contributed, in part, to the resistance of some strains of diseases to the medication we have. For my trip in July I have to buy more expensive malaria medication because the most common drugs are no longer effective. I have no idea how people living in this everyday are dealing with it.

And now there have been 2 reports of bird flu.

But at least Ghana has capable doctors (dash and all) and for that I am grateful

[Quinn 2]

Oy vey can i relate. I'm having almost the same issue, only instead of poor medical care, it's the absurdly high crime rate. For me I don't worry so much that Ernest will get sick, I worry that he'll get carjacked on his way to work and someone will shoot him for his cell phone. Or break into his house in the middle of the night and kill him, all for a few rand.

A month ago Ernest called me to tell me one his friends had been kidnapped. Three days later it turned out that he'd been murdered, the body cut up and burned in an alley. And it was all for money. The crime is getting so extreme in South Africa that's even making the local papers at my grandparents house in Milwaukee.

[Queen Jenn 0]

Oh my gosh!!! That's a terrible thing to happen to someone. And to cut up the body-just evil.

I worry about both - the crime and the illnesses. I worry that he'll get TB or a terrible strain of Malaria. And I worry that he'll get mugged or something. Just after his dad's funeral he was mugged. Luckily, he didn't have any money, they just got his cell phone.

[randolady 1]

Oy vey can i relate. I'm having almost the same issue, only instead of poor medical care, it's the absurdly high crime rate. For me I don't worry so much that Ernest will get sick, I worry that he'll get carjacked on his way to work and someone will shoot him for his cell phone. Or break into his house in the middle of the night and kill him, all for a few rand.

A month ago Ernest called me to tell me one his friends had been kidnapped. Three days later it turned out that he'd been murdered, the body cut up and burned in an alley. And it was all for money. The crime is getting so extreme in South Africa that's even making the local papers at my grandparents house in Milwaukee.

That's awful! I guess I'm lucky that violent crime isn't too prevalent in Tanzania. I would imagine that if your fiance is known for having an American girlfriend, he's even more at risk of something happening to him.

[Quinn 2]

I keep forgetting to ask you what part of Tanzania your fiance is in. I was in Arusha for three months doing an internship at the tribunal. I miss it!!

(my dream was to get married in Zanzibar, but that's not going to happen! Maybe one day my fiance and i can take our much delayed honeymoon there)

[randolady 1]

I keep forgetting to ask you what part of Tanzania your fiance is in. I was in Arusha for three months doing an internship at the tribunal. I miss it!!

(my dream was to get married in Zanzibar, but that's not going to happen! Maybe one day my fiance and i can take our much delayed honeymoon there)

He lives in Arusha! I have a love/hate relationship with that place. Your internship must have been really interesting! What did you do there?

We planned on going to Zanzibar the last time I was there, but once I got to Tanzania, I realized that would be stretching the budget. But that was on a college student's nonexistant paycheck! It sounds like if you don't expect royal treatment, you can get a fabulous hotel on the beach for like $30/night. The most expensive part is getting there, as I'm sure you know!

[Quinn 2]

I keep forgetting to ask you what part of Tanzania your fiance is in. I was in Arusha for three months doing an internship at the tribunal. I miss it!!

(my dream was to get married in Zanzibar, but that's not going to happen! Maybe one day my fiance and i can take our much delayed honeymoon there)

He lives in Arusha! I have a love/hate relationship with that place. Your internship must have been really interesting! What did you do there?

We planned on going to Zanzibar the last time I was there, but once I got to Tanzania, I realized that would be stretching the budget. But that was on a college student's nonexistant paycheck! It sounds like if you don't expect royal treatment, you can get a fabulous hotel on the beach for like $30/night. The most expensive part is getting there, as I'm sure you know!

OMG! I'm so jealous!! About once a month I craaaaaave Khan's Chicken on the Bonnet. I had some really great times in Arusha, so I have a love love relationship with it! I loved the internship, but it was really really emotionally draining. I was in the Office of the Prosecutor, so i got to sit in on the trials (inside the chamber) almost every day of my internship. Got to fly to Rwanda on the UN plane also, which was an incredible experience...in addition to everything I experience in Rwanda.

As far as Zanzibar: yeah, i would actually have preferred to stay in a place on the beach. We stayed at a really nice place, and it was definitely worth the money, but some friends of mine stayed at a place called Robinson's Place with little bungalos on the beach (for super cheap). It sounded incredible!

[safitu 0]

Oy vey can i relate. I'm having almost the same issue, only instead of poor medical care, it's the absurdly high crime rate. For me I don't worry so much that Ernest will get sick, I worry that he'll get carjacked on his way to work and someone will shoot him for his cell phone. Or break into his house in the middle of the night and kill him, all for a few rand.

A month ago Ernest called me to tell me one his friends had been kidnapped. Three days later it turned out that he'd been murdered, the body cut up and burned in an alley. And it was all for money. The crime is getting so extreme in South Africa that's even making the local papers at my grandparents house in Milwaukee.

That's awful! I guess I'm lucky that violent crime isn't too prevalent in Tanzania. I would imagine that if your fiance is known for having an American girlfriend, he's even more at risk of something happening to him.

Oh lord have mercy...the crime in TZ has gotten increasingly bad and violent. Kwele lived in a rural village (imbaseni) 45 minutes outside of Arusha. In January armed robbers came to his compound and knocked everyones door down except for kweles b/c he was in there with 2 firends who held the door up. so the robbers responded by shootiing through the door. thank goodness they all survived. needless to say, kwele moved back to arusha town the next day with my full support. i never really worried about his health...but the crime armed robberies and murders worried me a bit. i just prayed, trusted God and had faith that everything would be alright. Thank God it was....