Medical Outreach in Doure

Yesterday we went to a village about 15 kilometers away from Yako, by the name of Doure. Here we had a small medical outreach available to the people of the village. One of our Burkinabae nurses sat under a temporary woven straw building and diagnosed and then handed out necessary medicine to treat the illness diagnosed. There were probably around 50 or so people that came to the clinic. I thought that was a lot of people however; I was told that this is a very low number compared to the amount of people that come during the dry season. Now, it is the rainy season so that means that everyone is out in the fields working. But this doesn't mean that the medical need is less...it may even be more.

Many of the children were tested for malaria. No one had a bad case of malaria; there were probably four that had the first "stage" but this is very treatable. There was one little girl who had severe swelling in her face due to bad bee stings, many kids that had a skin fungus that causes hair loss (this is caused by sleeping on dirty floors), and two cases of severe malnuriousment. It was an amazing experience to see what the need is in the people; what are the things that causes them to be ill. In America it is strep throat, a common cold, the stomach flu; but in Burkina it is skin fungus, malaria, malnourishment. And what amazes me more is the lack of opportunity and availability of medicine and medical care. It is such a blessing that we are able to provide these medical clinics to the people. I am glad that I got to experience it.