Bagamoyo District Hospital
Muslim women covered in bright kangas color every environment in Tanzania. That was also the case this morning, during my visit to Bagamoyo District Hospital.
The hospital, which serves the 82 villages in the district, runs on a budget equal to $70,000 US dollars. That pays for staff, overhead such as lighting, electricity, and services for the 150-bed hospital. To put it in context, that amount of money would serve a hospital in the states for half a day.
As you can imagine, conditions are dire. As you pass through the wards, patients stare listlessly ahead, wounds open and oozing. Patients wait in line around the hospital to be seen, to get results, to get treatment.
Most interesting to me are the disjointed services to treat patients co-infected with HIV and TB. Although TB is the largest cause of mortality in Bagamoyo, it carries such a stigma and is so difficult to diagnose, that the attending doctor told me that few patients elect to take a TB test. HIV is treated through its own center, and those services don’t include TB. And for the patients that are diagnosed for both diseases, they must choose treatment since so many TB drugs interact poorly with ARVs.
What a state of affairs, my friends.
Then went through a powerhouse of interviews—eight, count ‘em—with various local and national TB experts at the conference. Most interesting is the work the Gates foundation is doing—one funder spurring innovation for the third-largest killer in the world.
From home, the news is that Pastor Paddy is making the rounds in the Bronx, preaching at Anika’s dad’s church. I hope he raises lots of money and sends lots of kids to school. At least something that we can move forward.
The hospital, which serves the 82 villages in the district, runs on a budget equal to $70,000 US dollars. That pays for staff, overhead such as lighting, electricity, and services for the 150-bed hospital. To put it in context, that amount of money would serve a hospital in the states for half a day.
As you can imagine, conditions are dire. As you pass through the wards, patients stare listlessly ahead, wounds open and oozing. Patients wait in line around the hospital to be seen, to get results, to get treatment.
Most interesting to me are the disjointed services to treat patients co-infected with HIV and TB. Although TB is the largest cause of mortality in Bagamoyo, it carries such a stigma and is so difficult to diagnose, that the attending doctor told me that few patients elect to take a TB test. HIV is treated through its own center, and those services don’t include TB. And for the patients that are diagnosed for both diseases, they must choose treatment since so many TB drugs interact poorly with ARVs.
What a state of affairs, my friends.
Then went through a powerhouse of interviews—eight, count ‘em—with various local and national TB experts at the conference. Most interesting is the work the Gates foundation is doing—one funder spurring innovation for the third-largest killer in the world.
From home, the news is that Pastor Paddy is making the rounds in the Bronx, preaching at Anika’s dad’s church. I hope he raises lots of money and sends lots of kids to school. At least something that we can move forward.
posted by Joanna at 7:24 AM
1 Comments:
Joanna, its hard to know what to say. $70,000 -- per YEAR??!! The closest experience that I have had to what you are describing was a "vacation" to Jamaica, which left me conflicted to say the least. And I imagine that is not even that close.
I guess it also brings to mind the word "perspective." My biggest concern of the past week was whether I should take the Holland Tunnel or Lincoln Tunnel back home into the City to avoid flooding. (Having said that -- do not under ANY circumstances bring any rain back with you when you return, whenever that is. The rain left when you left -- only you, however, should return!)
The Gates Foundation is not a bad funder to have, I guess, even if its the only one.
Steve Z
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