Category: Africa
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Kokumo: The child will not die again
Odia IyohaLagos, Nigeria It was 1838 in the ancient town of Ake, the era of the Abikus. The harmattan wind blew with reckless abandon, tinting everything living and non-living along its course. The leaves turned reddish brown from green, the roofs were caked with layers of dust and the buildings encrusted with patches of dirt.…
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Blood donation in South Sudan
Ahmed ElhagLatham, New York, United States When discussing the many challenges surrounding blood donation in South Sudan people tend to focus primarily on infrastructural barriers such as limited health care facilities and lack of investment and medical supplies. However, one important barrier that is often overlooked is the cultural stigma around blood donations. Many people…
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The mysterious Red Cross boy
Emeka Chibuikem V.Enugu State, Nigeria Who is this Red Cross Boy? This is the question to which I could find no answer until this day. I am Alex, from the Igbo tribe in the South-East of Nigeria, and I was born out of wedlock in 1991 to a single mother who died in 1998, while…
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Quinine and the cinchona plant: Gain or bane for Africa?
Lom NingBamenda, Republic of Cameroon “The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives and minds than all doctors in the Empire.”1 This statement by Winston Churchill referred to the bitter-tasting substance in tonic water, quinine. This antimalarial alkaloid did save lives, but also propelled the economy and prestige of the British Empire as it…
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Hastings Banda: Family doctor turned tyrant
In his 1936 list of Truants in medicine who “deserted medicine” and yet perhaps to his surprise or condescension “triumphed,” Lord Moynihan of Leeds listed mainly successful men of science or letters. Actors and sportsmen, however famous, were not included. But mentioned were several people who “strayed to politics,” notably Clemenceau, Sun Yat Sen, and…
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Nothing prepares you for this
Anne RooneyOak Park, Illinois, United States There are never enough beds. Seventy women lie side by side on the floor of a hospital ward intended for thirty patients. Some sleep on torn brown blankets on the cement floor. Those lucky enough to have a bed have neither sheets nor a pillow, only a wafer thin…
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A change in mindset
Asayya ImayaLondon, United Kingdom “This is witchcraft,” my father said with authority. I had questions that I dared not ask; my father was a formidable and austere character. The terror he had instilled in me as a child was still palpable, and I still feared him as an adult. I am not sure I liked…
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The hidden history of Lomidine
Sophia NewmanChicago, Illinois, United States The shot against sleeping sickness brought me so many problemsThe shot against sleeping sickness hurt me so…They pricked me in the back…And still, they want to send me to draw waterIf I try to slow my stepThe policeman hits me on the head with a stick.1 This song, originally sung…
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Visitation from the village
David IraborOyo State, Nigeria The aim of a surgeon is to ameliorate the conditions of patients with the skills you have learned. Since surgery is a science involving aspects of the patient’s anatomy, physiology, and pathology, morbidity and mortality in most patients can be explained scientifically. What many of us are not trained for are…