Only In Africa ...

The slightly broken, wooden structure in the foreground of this picture is an old door.  

This door had a second life, a history that is difficult to fathom.  It was used as a bed, a bed with a special purpose.

This picture was taken yesterday near a rural health clinic in southern Malawi.  The nearest hospital is about ten miles away.  Few families have any form of transportation outside of their bare feet.  A few families own bicycles.  Occasionally, a car drives by on the nearby dirt road.  Food is scarce.  Poverty is extreme. 

Unfortunately, in this part of the world, health issues are serious and systemic.

Right now, in addition to Malaria, TB, and HIV, there is a major outbreak of Cholera in nearby villages.

Cholera, as you may know, is a nasty infection.

Many people with Cholera die in several days from dehydration.

Rural health care workers use this old door as a bed for Cholera patients.  

You may note the hole in the middle of the wooden structure. 

This hole is positioned in an appropriate place for the patient, an African solution to the need to measure all of the fluids that are lost with massive, constant diarrhea.  

Through every hour during the heart of the infection, rural health care workers attempt to provide an equal amount of fluid back into a Cholera patient's body as the amount of fluid the patient loses through diarrhea through an IV (assuming a needle and appropriate fluids are available).

Imagine laying on this hard, wooden door in a dark, isolated building.  Not a comfortable thought.

The building in the background currently houses Cholera patients.  This small building is "off limits" to anyone outside of cholera patients and a small group of village health care staff.  

These government workers are paid about $50 a month to serve the rural areas.  They have light training in vaccinations and basic health issues.

Despite all of the challenges with modern medicine, it's moments like these that make one grateful for both the quality and availability health care in many regions of the world.

In Africa, you make the very best out of what you have.