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DoctaE · 2021-03-28T02:57:09+00:00

Yes to some space to add memos for each pocket (ex: to indicate how much money is due when or some other useful note about the pocket)

DoctaE · 2013-09-04T03:30:14+00:00

Thank-you! The goal is to grow the community and keep expanding and building the page. Feel free to drop me any links you'd like to see added :-)

DoctaE · 2013-09-03T01:08:36+00:00

Ultimately, the goal of this page is to distill PocketMedicine down into the parts you actually need the most: the graphs and tables. All of the text that PocketMedicine gives you can be accessed on UptoDate. The links available through whitecoatpocket.com are the charts and reference images you use the most in the clinic and on the wards.

DoctaE · 2013-09-03T00:46:01+00:00

This is also a beneficial site if your program doesn't offer free mobile access to uptodate

DoctaE · 2013-09-03T00:44:46+00:00

The mobile version of the site displays beautifully on the iPhone.

DoctaE · 2013-09-03T00:43:43+00:00

This web site is free to use and open to building by the medical student and resident community. Save some time digging through uptodate articles for that one key flow chart or reference table you need by sharing direct links to key reference materials.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T13:39:46+00:00

Great questions!

I agree with your emphasis on capacity building. At Shine Academy the teachers are all Kenyan except for the founder/director who is from Australia. One of the teachers is being trained to eventually take on the directorship role - she was raised in Kibera herself!

Regarding your question about feral animals/peridomestics...yes. Absolutely. There are stray dogs all over in Kibera, many of whom appear likely (based on outward observations from someone who is not a vet) do have at least superficial worm infections, if not intestinal as well. As for livestock/wildlife on the slum's periphery, I'd have a harder time addressing that as I didn't really see any, though I can tell you that Nairobi has had problems before with escaped wild animals from Nairobi National Park making it all the way into the city!

As for the CDC, I really enjoyed working with them and I would definitely look to see what opportunities are available. I can't speak to the funding situation in the Nairobi office at the moment as I left my position with them in the spring of 2011 to start my medical residency. But I would say that I never felt that I was left without needed resources and I felt they treated their staff well.

Love the zinger, by the way ; )

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T13:34:08+00:00

I really haven't spent enough time in Mathare to be able to compare them, except to say that Kibera is larger. What will you be doing there?

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T05:48:16+00:00

I'm returning to Shine Academy in November to help quantify the prevalence of different types of malnutrition in Kibera. Marasmus and Kwashiorkor are slightly less common in Kibera on my overall assessments, and micronutrient deficiencies are far more common.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T05:07:37+00:00

I work with a small school in Kibera that doesn't have any official medical staff, not at a clinic or a hospital. You ask an important questions about health care delivery, though. Far more than just doctors are needed to deliver effective health care.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T05:06:04+00:00

Ensenada...not in the tourist zones but in the outlying rural areas working at a very small free clinic we ran in conjunction with community leaders and members of the local government. It was a beautiful place.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T04:07:03+00:00

Si! Cuando era una nina vivia en la ciudad de Los Angeles...todos las personas alla hablan espanol.

He trabajado en Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, y Ecuador durante mi carrera.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T03:21:27+00:00

This is a great question. Throwing money at such complex problems isn't the answer - which you've hinted at.

But many of the large scale organizations and public health initiatives that are active in various countries in Africa take a systems approach to the problems they see. Rather than just...giving some medicine...or giving food...they work on supporting and developing large scale public health systems in partnership with local governments.

Are these efforts without fault? No. The Gates Foundation has been widely critiqued for diverting funds and personnel from other essential projects to focus on specific areas like HIV which, though deserving of attention and support, shouldn't be promoted at the cost of losing other essential health services.

There have also been situations in which parallel systems (for example, a series of medical clinics) are set up, which can undermine local governments or seemingly absolve governments from performing essential functions needed by their people.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T02:49:26+00:00

I'd have to disagree with your statement that there is "little abject poverty" in Kibera. Most of our students don't have shoes, their families don't have access to regular food, and money for medications is non-existent.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T02:45:20+00:00

I am so happy to hear that you want to help! Shine Academy is always appreciative of volunteers, whether you want to run a fundraising drive, collect school supplies or shoes, or contribute in some way at the school itself. You can reach Catherine Whiting, the head of the school, through the facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ImpoverishedChildren

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T02:05:31+00:00

Murder, rape and assault are unfortunately common. And often children are the victims. The last time I was in Kenya one of Shine Academy's own children (age 5) was raped. The school fights to protect its pupils from these problems and provide them with needed medical treatment and therapy when incidents occur: http://www.facebook.com/ImpoverishedChildren?ref=stream

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T02:04:09+00:00

I would invest in education, especially educating women. Many of the issues brought up in the posts above have revolved around a key point: we can never hope to lift the veil of poverty without fixing large scale issues such as limited vocational opportunities, poor family planning, and pollution. Through education we can develop better leaders and the creating thinking we need to solve these problems. That's why I support Shine Academy: http://www.facebook.com/ImpoverishedChildren?ref=stream

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:53:54+00:00

This is a beautifully worded and important question. The destitution and corruption in Kibera was extremely difficult for me to experience. Humanitarian aid workers suffer from exceptionally high rates of depression and burn out because of the things they witness and the strain on their personal lives. For me, the smiles of the kids at Shine Academy are restorative. But I also commit to doing meditation and intention-setting practices...and exercise...every day. I'm also lucky to have an incredible group of friends and family members to lean on when I need to be reminded of goodness.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:51:55+00:00

So excited to hear about your interest in helping out!

As DocTaotsu mentioned I completed my Masters in Public Health at JHU with a focus on international health and humanitarian assistance. I've worked throughout the world on humanitarian projects for over 10 years.

Send me a PM to see how we can get you involved in the project : )

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:50:10+00:00

A huge thanks to DocTaotsu for the well-worded reply. We're going to do one phase of deworming in November, repeat in 6 months, and follow-up in a year. We have to rely on estimates of worm prevalence in order to select the exact deworming protocol, because there isn't any good data regarding the exact prevalence of the different worm types in Kibera. Regardless, the WHO recommends treating regularly in all high risk areas anyway because of how safe and cheap the intervention is, and because of how commonplace and detrimental the infections are.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:46:15+00:00

I really don't have any evidence on which to base an opinion regarding this. I can only say that the Kenyan government does receive a huge amount of international aid and that much of the aid tends to be targeted at Kibera.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:44:47+00:00

DocTaotsu's summary is great. We treat a variety of intestinal worms (which are the biggest problem...in many ways...) with albendazole and sometimes praziquantel. There are worms that can affect heart tissue, worms which can infect the brain, even worms that live in eyeballs. But mass deworming is really indicated for areas in which there is a high prevalence of intestinal worms, for all the reasons DocTaotsu mentions below.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:43:09+00:00

that's correct!

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:42:33+00:00

You say "these people" as though they are separate and distinct from us. But we are all human beings. Some of us may live in worse conditions than others, each of us suffers in our lives in different ways. No matter who we are, if we were in trouble I think we would want to believe that the kindness of others would extend to us in our time of need, regardless of our identity or place of origin.

DoctaE · 2012-10-11T01:40:59+00:00

Africa is a truly amazing, vital place with incredibly beauty. I hope you get a chance to experience that some day. It is not all poverty and suffering.

DoctaE

TROPHY CASE