Physicians for Peace

More news from Robin Jones on of our Maternal and Child Health medical mission trips on the ground now in the Millennium Village of Pampaidas in Zaria, Nigeria...

Day 3 - 

 

No water or electricity when I got up at 7 am.  Breakfast of bread and butter with tea.

I arrived at the clinic. Dr. Woje loves the “Book for Midwives.”  I will check e-mail and then we will leave for Pampaida. 

 

It was about an hour ride to MV1.  I was with Dr. Oje doing ANC (antenatal care) The woman gets her record, goes to the lab for urine dip and anything else required. Then she sees the doctor. She is asked how far along she is, and if there are any concerns.  She then goes to the exam table.  We did raise the head to prevent vena caval syndrome.  Fundal height is assessed. All moms today were close to the “month" they said they were in. If > 28 weeks the fetal heart tones are assessed with the fetoscope. I even heard them. I took the Doppler but forgot the gel .  They assess the conjunctiva for pallor and assess the ankles for edema. The weight is obtained in Kg.  Today the women ranged from 40-60 kg. They are told when to make their next appointments.

 

On the initial visit the mother is screened for Blood type and Rh, VDRL HIV and now they are starting to screen for Hep B.  After the 1^st trimester, they are treated for malaria and dewormed. Some mothers told us how many pregnancies/babies they have had but don’t know how long ago. Age isn’t that important.

 

Girls marry around 13 or 14 years old. They have problems with CPD so I will be teaching the Partograph to identify when labor is lasting too long, without progression. VVF is a big problem.  Early identification of problems will prevent these.
 

I will be teaching the nurses prenatal care and the importance of early identification of preeclampsia- hopefully preventing eclampsia.   If the urine dipstick is + for glucose, a random glucose or fasting is used as the screening tool for GDM.  This isn’t too common of a problem here.

 

I was given a tour of the staff quarters where I will be staying from Monday- Thursday every week.  Nice sleeping area, small kitchen and a squatty potty!  There is running water and a shower.  My room has a lot of bees right on the window screen. I have been told they will spray.  No internet and very limited electricity so I doubt I will be e-mailing throughout the week.

 

After finishing clinic we went to the other clinic – MV2.  They had a delivery about an hour before we arrived.  The placenta hadn’t separated yet.  We had the baby nurse and promised to return after going to a community health survey of a village outside Pampaidas Millennium Village.  Ht/wt, Hgb, blood smear and urine and stool cultures are being done.  These people are the control group to see if the MV has shown improvement over the outlying communities.  They will gather the data and do teaching with these people.

 

When we returned to MV2, the placenta was out and intact! We rode back to the Zaria office.  Barbara, the secretary , is spending the night here with me.  Dr. Woje stopped at a restaurant so I could get a meal.  I got greens (spicy), pounded yams (bland), beef and liver.  I also  got two  bottles of water and some fruit juice. Going all day in the heat without water is tough. I downed them in no time.  I shared my meal with Barbara. Then she suggested we walk down to the Chinese restaurant to get bread for the morning.  I bought a loaf of bread and 2 more bottles of water.  It was good to go for a walk, but I won’t venture out on my own.

 

The electricity just went out so I will bathe by penlight.  This consists of splashing water, soaping up and rinsing off with a small bowl dipped into a bucket of water.  It will get rid of the dirt and sweat and cool me off.  I feel privileged to have these amenities.  My computer is  on battery and getting low so I will close for tonight. 

 

Great Day!

 

Day 4 - 

 

Today I was in Pampaida village to meet with the village chief.  He welcomed me as his guest and assured me of my safety. He asked what Nigerian food I will eat. Food is spicy here, so I am preparing for that. I told him I am willing to try anything. I met with the nurses (females) and the CHEWS (Community Health Extension Workers) (males) that I will be teaching. It looks like teaching days will be Mon and Thur, Prenatal clinic days are Tues, Wed and births will be OJT.  I will actually stay in the village Mon-Thur, then back to the guest house at the office in Zaria (1  hr drive) Fri-Sun.  There I will have electricity and Internet access (though sporadic).  So after this Sunday, Communication will only happen on the weekends.  Dr. Woje has invited me to worship at his church this Sunday.

 

From my work e-mail, I can attach pictures.Yeah!  Here are just a few.

 

Thanks!

Many thanks to Robin for taking the time to send such great field reports from our volunteer medical missions! If you would like to make a donation to help mothers in poverty and support our medical missions in Africa, please visit our web site at www.physiciansforpeace.org.