Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America (CHPAA) are about to embark on their tenth mission from USA to Cambodia where they are setting up shop for a week, offering free medical, surgical and dental treatment to people who otherwise cannot access care. Earlier this year I wrote about my experience traveling to a province outside … More Humility in Service
Dr Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners In Health, talks about “oops” health care leading to “stupid deaths”. I have often referred to the destitution seen in Cambodia, caused by people needing to pay from their pockets for all health care costs – that’s “Out Of Pocket Spending”, or “oops”. Health care in Cambodia, and across … More Oops and Stupid Deaths
Mary, as I have been calling her, has remained severely malnourished now for four months of her almost seven months of life. Her five year old sister has a neurological disability caused by TB Meningitis, which happens to children when their TB disease goes unchecked for too long. Noone has ever identified the adult who … More When God Syndrome Gets in the Way
Tuberculosis is an insidious and a complicated disease. Six years ago I met a young man of about 30 years old who hailed from India. He presented to an Australian hospital with persistent abdominal symptoms. Eventually doctors performed investigations and found multiple lesions on the lining around his abdominal organs. Whilst awaiting results from the … More Fighting Felons
This is a World Health Organisation growth chart for a child from birth to six months old. The Y axis follows weight in kilograms, while the X axis follows the age in weeks to 12 weeks, then in months to six months. The coloured curves traveling from the left to the right of the chart … More TB? Or Not TB?
One of the things I have learned about the world since coming to Cambodia, is that there must be millions of people whose lives could be transformed by something as simple as a wheelchair, but who instead are confined to a tiny space by their inability to walk. I have met a surprising number of … More Wheels
Sometimes whilst blogging I go searching for the right quote to fit my reflections. This quote seemed perfect for today’s story relating to the small Islamic community I am currently working with. I had never heard of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who according to Wikipedia “…. was the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, the last … More Sometimes The Battle …
This cartoon derives from a 2015 article about an anti-corruption exhibition organised by Transparency International Bangladesh. TIB arranges 10th Anti-Corruption Cartoon exhibition at Drik Gallery. It illustrates the user-pays health care system prevailing across the poor world in which health professionals are enriched on the backs of an already impoverished general public. “Without money you … More Catastrophic Cycles
This week I lost my housemate and friend to Bangladesh, where she will work with the Rohingya refugees escaping indescribable violence in Rakhine State across the border in Myanmar. We spoke a lot about them and about Cambodia before she left. It always looped back to ourselves, our appreciation for our extreme luck of birth … More Eye Is For Ice
He lives in a home with walls constructed of bamboo, elevated on wooden stumps ten ladder steps from the ground. I have cycled or tuk tuked along this track which runs parallel with the Mekong countless times over the past four years. The track passes through many impoverished communities, an interweave of Buddhist and Islamic … More Boat Baby Update
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