Posts tagged tanzania
We advocate for our patients and do everything that we can within our hospital to provide the best standard of care, but it can be quite overwhelming at times when what happens outside of our fences is completely beyond your control.
One of the things I do in these moments to help keep things in perspective, is to take a few moments to walk around the health facilities we have here. I remind myself to focus on all the things that we CAN actually do, and that do make a huge difference.
It is amazing how much is still able to be done right here in our hospital, even with all the constraints on time, resources and people power. At these short stitches in time I just marvel at all the activities that are happening simultaneously at any one moment: you can walk past the ER where people are resuscitated and brought back to life with emergency treatments, then past the out-patient clinics and see patients receiving life-changing mental health counseling and support for the terrible traumas they have endured.
You can stop in at the training tent and see a new generation of dedicated nurses and clinical officers participating so attentively in learning sessions to improve their clinical skills and knowledge, wanting to provide the best standard of care to their patients.
Dr. Saschveen blogs from Tanzania: http://blogs.msf.org/en/staff/blogs/msf-in-tanzania/treating-refugees-in-tanzania-perspective
Three-year-old Billy was brought to the Doctors Without Borders health post inside Nyarugusu refugee camp - she developed a fever and started vomiting. Her symptoms are typical of malaria: headache, joint pain, vomiting, and other flu like symptoms. MSF Nurse assistant Saidi tested Billy for the disease (a small pin-prick to her finger to get a blood sample, which is tested immediately, on-site, to see if the malaria parasites are present).
This kind of testing is the most reliable way of diagnosing malaria in the camp’s remote and basic environment: little training is needed in order to administer the test; no additional lab equipment is required; and the results are fast to interpret.
Young children are the most vulnerable to malaria - their bodies haven’t built up effective defense against the disease and they do not have fully developed immune systems.
After her consultation, Billy is given her anti-malarial tablets and some water to take her first dose. MSF uses artemisinin-based combination therapy, which is the most effective malaria treatment.
Tent to tent across the refugee camp, health promoters explain to refugees how to prevent malaria, how to recognize the symptoms, and how to seek treatment.
In 2016, MSF treated 46,380 refugees in Nyarugusu for malaria.
Nyandwi Velelia lives in Tanzania’s Nduta refugee camp. She has just given birth to triplets at the camp’s MSF-run maternity ward, where almost 490 babies were born last month. Nyandwi and her new baby boys are all healthy.
Challenges lie ahead for these precious guys- their new home is a tent that leaks when it rains, and their cradle will be a simple mat on the floor.
Nyandwi is one of 89,000 people now living in Nduta camp - where overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions are contributing to a spike in diseases such as malaria.
Photo: Eleanor Weber-Ballard
It’s been a year of turmoil for Burundian refugees.
MSF has operated in Burundi for over 20 years, and responded to the intense fighting and violence that caused a large influx of refugees to the region. Our teams are providing the Kigoma region, Nduta camps, and Nyarugusu camps with professional medical care ranging from emergency trauma, psychological and anti-malarial measures.
#Hyperlapse – MSF caravan route in Tanzania to provide medical care to people fleeing violence in Burundi
The mass influx of people in the Nyarugusu camp makes it difficult for MSF and other aid agencies to provide food, water, and health care. Right now an estimate of 78,000 Burundians currently live in this Tanzanian camp, with more people crossing the border each day. http://bit.ly/1fmjmLx
As a result of an influx of border crossing from Burundi, the population in MSF’s Nyarugusu camp in Tanzania has doubled in the course of two months. With the decrease of water and latrine access, MSF provides aid with these issues along with their previous medical care. http://bit.ly/1I3ohMF
This month MSF launches a cholera mass vaccination campaign in Tanzania’s Nyarugusu camp aimed to help 115,000 people. Learn about the campaign and MSF’s prevention techniques for future cholera cases: http://bit.ly/1BDLp39
Photo: An MSF staff member vaccinates a child for measles. DRC 2008 © Anna Surinyach
GAVI Needs to Offer Lower Vaccine Prices to Humanitarian Groups
The GAVI Alliance should systematically extend the discounted vaccine prices it obtains from pharmaceutical companies to humanitarian organizations that are often well placed to reach unvaccinated children, MSF said today at the GAVI Partners Forum meeting in Tanzania. Currently, humanitarian groups such as MSF are not able to obtain vaccines at GAVI prices, and are left to negotiate access to vaccines on a cumbersome case-by-case basis.