My grandmother is an amazing woman in her early eighties. She was born in and has lived all her life in Nigeria, and while she never had any formal education, she is amazingly proactive and she learned to read and bookkeep and ran her own business for many years. In the past few years, she was diagnosed with hypertension. At first, she tried to treat herself with traditional medicines before giving in and taking ‘western’ medicines. No one forced her to make the change, instead, she saw the difference the two medicines made in her and the results of the two health approaches she took. Even now she recommends both the traditional and the ‘western’ medicines because one or both should help.

This highlights two interrelated problems I find when I reflect on some of the public health programmes instituted while I lived in Nigeria. These programs often tried to force people to conform to these new and foreign rules and completely decried the methods of the past were invalid and wrong and by doing so these programs incur high costs.

I know that there are some common practices for which public health must institute a complete change, but that there is something to be said for a treatment method that has been believed in with (empirically) proven results over centuries. And in asking people to completely change their mindsets and give up their beliefs because you have ‘Western’ proof is not acceptable or effective. I am sure that at the national level, many of these plans do try to explain or incorporate local methods, but there are far too many ‘societies’ in Nigeria for this tenet to remain when the message finally reaches the citizens.

Most medical solutions are simply not available or produced in developing countries like Nigeria, and require importation. This often leads to higher costs. The combination of high cost and force-feeding of new ideas is what I can only describe as a lethal combination.

I do not have a clear solution, but I believe that the Health ministries in many West African countries (especially Nigeria) need to utilize their domestic scientists to investigate the healing properties of traditional medicines before the knowledge is lost. If these treatments have survived for centuries, they must have some redeeming quality and healing properties. The obvious solution to reducing cost is finding cheaper ways of producing and supplying medicines. If these medicines can be grown in someone’s backyard, that is the cheapest you can probably get.

I recently read somewhere that if you tell a man what to do and give him a reason, he ignores you, if he sees the action and the result he agrees with you, if you let him do it himself and reach the same result he cannot deny it, and he believes you. I certainly am not arguing to allow people use ineffective medicines till they realize that they are dying. But there is a middle ground where a combination of the traditional and the new should be mixed and explanations grounded in common knowledge, in order to increase trust and actual efficacy. And perhaps by doing so, we may discover that the traditional could be effective.

I recently read an article on the Rwanda ministry of health rewarding hundreds of mothers for “Their Exemplary Observance of Basic Standards Aimed at Reducing Infant and Maternal Mortality”. This program was developed to encourage competition among mothers and give a tangible proof of success when they managed to fulfill the terms of the program. Not everything can be made a competition with rewards as such a system is not sustainable. But this was an instance where using cultural tenets and making mothers believe that following these standards made them better mothers, made maternal and child health the responsibility of the mothers themselves, and not something they were forced to do.

Public Health measures have to be made that, ‘public’ and defined by the public they are meant to serve, and thus be most effective for. Measures cannot be ‘copied and pasted’ nonetheless, I have been on the receiving end of many public health measures that left me confused and information I simply ignored.

As the title suggests, Africa is not a country, and Nigerians do not speak Nigerian or have one homogenous ‘Nigerian’ culture. Public health measures should serve the public and be a specific as humanly possible and always remember that Africa is a continent with thousands of languages and cultures (more than 300 in Nigeria alone). One general solution is not going to be effective. As I read more and learn more about public health I hope to be able to give concrete solutions, but for now this is an observation I have made on an issue I hope can be changed.

-Onome U. Chicago IL, International Health Team, College Sophomore.

References

http://allafrica.com/stories/201012280361.html

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Of the 52 million children in Myanmar (Burma), 40% are children and young people. Many don’t have access to medical care or enough to eat. One child in ten dies before reaching their fifth birthday and half the country’s children fail to complete their schooling. 400,000 people are affected by Cyclone Giri, which struck Myanmar on 22 November 2010 – two years after Cylone Nargis devastatedthe country, killing more than 130,000 people, half of whom were children.

But the worst problems facing Burma’s children today is the Burmese army is forcibly recruiting children to cover gaps left by a lack of adult recruits. In Burma the Tatmadaw (Army) exercises absolute power of life and death over every civilian, including children. Soldiers act with complete impunity, particularly in rural areas, and are not answerable to any laws which exist on paper in Rangoon. Children are often shot on sight in free-fire zones, tortured or executed as “suspected rebels”, used for forced labour, forcibly conscripted into the Army and otherwise subject to direct abuse. They also suffer from the destruction of the village environment and the economy under SLORC (State Law & Order Restoration Council) policies, which are leading to widespread malnutrition and the death of children, the lack of educational opportunities, and other factors which rob them of a childhood.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says children as young as 10 are beaten or threatened with arrest to make them enlist. Both the army and ethnic rebels have been accused of using children before. But the timing of this report is particularly damaging for the military, which is already under pressure after a crackdown on anti-government protests. The military insists it is opposed to the use of child soldiers, but HRW says the abuses were extensive and systemic. It said it had published the report to try to urge the United Nations Security Council to tackle the issue…(to be continue)

Sources: Wikipedia and BBC

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Paper cutting is one of the traditional art forms in China. In order to continue and develop this art, as well as to help some poor farmers and unemployed people supplement their income and improve their living standards, Shanxi Evergreen Service developed a new paper cutting project.

These beautiful cards were individually hand cut. We incorporate high quality imported paper with the art of Chinese paper cutting to produce greeting cards for sale at home and abroad. All profit from these cards will be used to assist low income families in urban and rural areas through Evergreen’s scholarship and community center programs.

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The Good Samaritan Medical and Dental Mission is a non-profit  Christian organization based out of Riverside, CA.  We originally started as a project of the Youth and Young Adult fellowship of the United Methodist Church, but since then, we have diverged and expanded into a free-standing organization that goes to Vietnam every summer to provide medical and dental care.  We are unique from many other organizations in that we provide a full spectrum of health care to the under served populations of Vietnam.  Our full medical capabilities is one of the things we are most proud in.   Some of out services include (but not limited to): medical imaging (ultrasound, xray, and EKG), a full surgical team, a full dental team, a full optometry team, a mobile pharmacy with a full spectrum of pharmaceuticals, a full team of primary care physicians, a full lab time with state of the art equipment, and a team that works with the local church.  Another aspect we our very proud is the transparency of our actions.  When entering Vietnam, we have all the full licenses, paperwork, and permission to do all the procedures we do.   We absolutely do not affiliate ourselves with non-legitimate actions, such as bribing airport security for the entering of materials.  By doing this, we bring honor to our name, to the name of the United States, and to the name of our Jesus Christ.

Being a Christian mission, we heavily depend on our Lord to be the driving force of this mission.  With His grace, we are allowed have the last 10 years full of growth and impact in Vietnam.   In addition of being a Christian mission, we are a medical mission.  This is our main function in Vietnam: to provide medical and dental care to the people of Vietnam.  We are not evangelists, and this is for many reasons.  The biggest reason is, the communist government of Vietnam is still hesitant of the protestant church, and still restricts many our many rights.  Therefore, if we worked under the umbrella of evangelism, we could never enter the borders of Vietnam.   Despite not spreading the Gospel overtly, we have indeed made a big impact for Christianity through our actions.  By affiliating ourselves with the local churches in Vietnam, we are building up the credibility and trust.   Also, by wearing our logo that has a cross on it, we instigate many questions from our patients for our motives in Vietnam.  Only then are we allowed to share that we are here through God’s love.  As a result of these small but important battles, we have begun to change the government’s view on Christianity in general.

There are many testaments in the progress that we have been making in Vietnam through the last 10 years.  For example. for the past few years we have been invited to the the Hue Medical College to create a medical residency for Emergency Medicine.  This was after gaining the trust of the local government and the Ministry of Health after years of doing such great medical work in Vietnam.  So every spring, our mission sends a group of professors from various universities such as UCSF, UCLA, UC Davis, Loma Linda have collaborated in creating a residency program in Vietnam using the the latest techniques and theory of our time.   Another victory that we have achieved happened after the summer of 2008, when we were broadcasted in a special 1-hour documentary on Vietnam’s premier television network, HTV.  In the documentary, the writers wrote about how a group of selfless student volunteers, with the partnership of a large team of medical professionals, has showed Vietnam so much genuine love through their actions.   Lastly, we are currently putting our plans into action to build The Good Samaritan Medical and Dental Institute–a state of the art medical center that will be built in Nha Trang Vietnam.  This Institute will be a beacon of light in Vietnam, providing free medical care to those who can not afford it.  The plans have materialized in full swing already.  As of summer 2008, we have enlisted a group of contractors, architectures, and medical professionals who will be helping us make this dream a reality.

All of these victories have not been possible without great help, and a series of miracles.  First and foremost, we owe all our success to our Father in heaven–without him, we would just be another “good idea.”  Also I would like to credit the founder of this mission, Dr. Vien Doan and his family.  There are many dreamers in the world, but few materialize their dreams into reality–Dr. Vien is certainly the latter.  Another person who gets much credit is Dr. John Branch, who has also been with the mission from the beginning.  Dr. Branch is currently serving as the medical director for GSMDM.   Last but not least, a great part of the success of the mission lies in the selfless loving hearts of the student medical volunteers that come to Vietnam every year.  It is though their sacrifices (money, time, and strength) that this mission still is what it is today.

The future of the mission is bright.  Over the years we have treated tens of thousands of patients in Vietnam, and have operated a great deal too.  However, there is still more to be done.  There are still thousands  of more of sick people and hundreds of more persecuted of the churches.  I just want to take a minute to ask that you the reader would join our cause.  Prayer is one of the most important things you can do for us.  Also, donations go a long way.  I just received our annual report a few weeks ago.  It turns out that only 3% of our budget goes to overhead costs–the rest goes to the patient in Vietnam.  This is an astonishing low statistic, and it proves that out heart is for the people in VIetnam.  We have sponsored many heart surgeries in Vietnam, which is only about $2,000 USD.  Where can you get a heart surgery for that low of a price in the U.S.?  If you feel compelled to be a part of this mission please click on the link provided below, and it will redirect you to our home page.   Thank you for your time, and God bless.

“Changing Lives, one at a time”

Ben Khuc

GSMDM, Secretary

http://gsmedicalministry.org/

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