WORKING WITH MSITU WA TEMBO'S DISPENSARY

Hello everyone!

It’s Javi again. This time I’d like to tell you about the work that I’ve been doing during these past weeks in Msitu wa Tembo’s dispensary, one of the greatest protagonists in our AFYA (health) program. I've been going at least once a week helping in the work that the doctor and nurse do each day, which has helped me to learn a great deal while completing the information we had so far about the way the work in the dispensary.

The dispensary is in the nuclear area of Msitu wa Tembo, and has capacity to serve 8800 potential patients of the region (including the villages of Msitu wa Tembo, Londoto and Kiruani) although paradoxically only has a workforce of a doctor, a nurse, four auxiliary and two laboratory technicians, so you can understand the brutal daily workload presented they have. I explain below some of the things that have most drawn my attention.

First of all, there is a big problem about chronic diseases’ prevalence in our target population: hypertension is one of the major players. This generates a debate: How to treat and carry out monitoring of chronic patients who only have a few financial resources? Once a patient is diagnosed with hypertension would be desirable to establish a chronic treatment with daily medication (each patient must pay out of pocket) and routine monitoring of blood pressure levels to see if the medication is being effective. For this we must explain to this patient to perform this big effort and, even worse, he does not even have the feeling of being sick! Hypertension is "painless". We wanted to always insist the doctor about the importance of monitoring the blood pressure levels of all patients who come to the clinic, but with the previous reasoning, does this make sense and it will be an action that report us an improvement of population’s global health? I encourage you to reflect about this great challenge we have in our hands.

Furthermore, I would like to emphasize the great work that the workers of the dispensary (especially the nurse) are doing with local women, about family planning, pregnancy and helps with newborns, all in the line of empowering women with which we are so identified in our organization. I could spend some mornings in a specific consultation led by the nurse who handles these patients and situations, offering this service for free. She offers medical advice on family planning and contraceptive possibility of treatments to prevent unwanted pregnancies. During pregnancy the various necessary vaccines are supplied as well as laboratory tests to exclude potentially dangerous diseases for the fetus as HIV or syphilis. Subsequently they carry out monitoring of newborns offering vaccinations and free healthcare for up to five years old children. As you can see, this is a fundamental help and an easier way for young pregnant women who have to face the challenge of being a mother at a very young age.

This was all for today, I hope you liked it and hope it was enlightening.

I send you a big hug!

JAVI