A woman from the mountain

From the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) blog, Message in a Bottle (in French).

Kaguro is a small mountain village in an attractive area in Darfur, and completely surrounded by rebels. MSF run a clinic there but there is no operating theatre, so cesarean sections aren't possible.

One day a wonan turned up, nine months pregnant with her second child. The first baby had been delivered by cesarean and the doctor realised that it was needed again. No choice, the mother would have to wait there for three days until the helicopter, the only safe way to travel in the region, would be arriving.

But after a few hours, the patient's waters broke and contractions began. The nearest hospital in Kebkabyia was eight hours' walk away. So she set off, with her family, riding on a donkey. Her only luggage was a blanket and a tin bowl.

The journey was difficult. They had to stop every 45 minutes or so, so that she could regain her breath and for the contractions to become more manageable, and then set out again on the stony way.

In the end it took more than 24 hours to arrive at the hospital, but there was a happy ending. The mother was delivered of a healthy baby boy and apart from fatigue she is progressing remarkably well.

MSF is the only medical organisation working in Kaguro. The health clinic is stretched to capacity, providing on average 3,500 consultations every month. Patients sometimes walk for five or six hours to get to the clinic, often at great personal risk.

There is more about the area in English.

Malaria and pregnancy

This arrived in the post from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today

I learned (at the least) two new things.

One is merely a piece of trivia: while reading a short article in French I came across the word paludisme. I looked it up to find that it means malaria. The anti-malarial tablets I had to take as a child were called Paludrine, which I had never really thought about before, assuming it was a name conjured up when it was first manufactured.

Clearly if I took it as a child, it was made a fair while ago, but when I looked it up, I found this on the ICI site:

The first really effective synthetic treatment against malaria – 'Paludrine' – was developed by ICI scientists in research that was hastened by anticipated wartime needs in the Mediterranean and Asia Pacific, when supplies of the natural quinine treatment for malaria were expected to be cut off to Britain. ‘Paludrine’ was to prove the most effective anti-malarial available for more than four decades.

The less trivial thing I learnt today was that pregnant women, because their immune systems are weaker at the end of pregnancy, are particularly vulnerable to ith malaria and the risk of severe anaemia which it may cause. And there is also great risk for the baby: there is a greater risk of spontaneous abortion, of perinatal mortality, premature birth and low birth weight.

MSF take care of both treatment and prevention. They provide preventative treatment to pregnant women and give them impregnated mosquito nets for themselves and their babies.

I don't believe there can be anyone who hasn't heard of MSF. I have admired their work for years, and continue to do so. Some of the stories in the brochure are horrifying.