Tomorrow is our first day of seeing patients so today was a time for organization and planning. The team dug into the boxes of medicines purchased by our partners in Burkina Faso as well as the supplies transported from Ecuador.
Dorothy and Becka smiled with glee as they unpacked the colorful supplies for the kids’ ministry gathered so generously from HCJB Global offices in Colorado Springs.
We took stock of what we have and what we need. The doctors conferred about which medicines to use for various illnesses based on our inventory and the local knowledge from new friend David Zampou, who oversees many of the health workers in the region of Komsilga.
We are going south of Ouagadougou. Apparently, about 32 villages populate the region known as Komsilga and there is also a town by that name. Seven small government clinics serve some 52,000 inhabitants. (These are not all verified numbers and statistics, but it gives us a better picture of what we are getting into.)
We will be spending most of our time in two specific villages, but will likely see patients from many of the nearby communities. David told us we are likely to see a lot of coughs (resulting from the recent change from rainy season to dry), skin lesions, diarrheal illnesses and lots and lots of malaria. In fact, he told us that recent studies indicated that 70% of their patients who have fevers have malaria.
Interestingly, the rate of HIV/AIDS in Burkina Faso is very low for Africa and we will likely not see many cases with those complications.
Surprise visitors to our dinner table were HCJB Global´s Andy and Linda Braio, who led the team that first introduced me to Burkina Faso about three years ago. They are in Burkina Faso helping with ACTS Burkina and their long-time friend Joanna Illboudou, who started that ministry for widows and orphans. The Braios helped plant a large garden to help grow vegetables for the children in the orphanage.
No comments:
Post a Comment