Radiological services in rural mission hospitals in Ghana.
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The provision of basic radiological services in rural, first-referral hospitals is an essential component of any country's attempt to achieve health for all. We report the results of a review of examination frequency trends, operator training background, and machine operational and safety status in the X-ray facilities in rural mission hospitals in Ghana in 1991-92. The radiological workload at the reporting hospitals was low and declined by more than 50% over the study period. Although most of the X-ray operators had little or no formal training, they produced adequate imaging results. Most of the X-ray machines seen were over 20 years old, yet remained functional, but less than 25% had standard radiation safety (beam limitation) devices. These results suggest that many rural, first-referral hospitals in developing countries could benefit from a careful review of their services and adoption of the WHO Basic Radiological System (WHO-BRS). (+info)
Hope for Haiti?
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Haiti, one of the world's five poorest nations, gets international attention because of the number of refugees who leave by boat in search of a better future. The 80,000 inhabitants of Ile de la Gonave are neglected, even in Haiti--there is no government medical post, and facilities in the health posts run by missions are minimal. Typhoid and cholera epidemics threaten the island. Medecins Sans Frontieres plans to send staff and supplies and train local health workers. (+info)
Finding the heart of medicine at the end of the road in Guatemala.
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Canadian physician Peter Vaughan recently participated in a medical mission in Guatemala. He recalled that a visit to the war-torn country 20 years earlier had inspired him to go into medicine; his return visit this past March to share his medical skills reconfirmed his decision. (+info)
Shut out of medicine in Canada, Dr. Leonora Howard King blazed a trail in China.
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After being denied the opportunity to study medicine and work at home, Dr. Leonora Howard King became Canada's first female medical missionary to China. Although she attempted to wear both the religious and secular hats handed her by the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, Howard King found that she was too busy meeting the medical needs of destitute women and children to proselytize. She won the favour of Chinese royalty, and after treating hundreds of wounded soldiers during the 1894-95 war with Japan became the first Western woman to become a mandarin, an honour bestowed by her adopted country. (+info)