[Warrap Town, Southern Sudan 40°C] Eight of us climb into the Land Cruiser and leave the World Vision compound at around 11h00. We drive to the brick storage room, where refrigerators store vaccinations for the immunization program that takes place in different villages every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Tonj North County. We load tables and chairs onto the roof of the vehicle; carefully place coollers of vaccines against meningitis, tetanus, measles into the back, and toss boxes of syringes, gauze and rubber gloves under the vehicles back benches. Five children congregate by the passenger door to get a closer look at the khawaja: me the white man in the front seat. Half of them are naked. All of them reluctent to shake this khawaja’s hand, despite customary protocol.
Posts Tagged ‘health’
Travel Health: Mefloquine, Neem and Choices
[Nairobi, Kenya 28°C] It’s now one week before my arrival in Juba and according to the prescription of apo-mefloquine that sits on my desk, I should be starting my antimalarial treatment today by taking my first 250-gram tablet. One tablet to be taken one week before arriving in a malarial area (some areas of Kenya [...]
Travel Health: the first phase of vaccinations
Today, I had my first set of vaccinations. Initially, I planned on making an appointment with the McGill Centre for Tropical Diseases, but I could’nt wait the 3-4 weeks waiting time. I went to the Santé Voyage Clinic at Montréal’s Hôpital St-Luc, which has a walk-in travel health clinic. I waited about two hourse before seeing the nurse.
Travel Health: vaccinations, malaria pills
[MONTRÉAL] This morning I consulted the website of the McGill Centre for Tropical Diseases, which operates in Montréal within the McGill University Faculty of Medicine, to learn more about what preventative measures they recommend for travel to Sudan. I still haven’t made an appointment for getting the vaccinations but from what I’ve read on their website, and in the international travel and health information of the World Health Organization, I will probably have to get vaccinations for Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A + B, Typhoid, Meningitis, Rabies, Diptheria, Tetanus, maybe Cholera. The documentation also encourages Malaria pills but not chloroquine because the malaria in Sudan is immune to chloroquine.
Mapping Sudan
[MONTRÉAL] Before going somewhere for the first time, it’s always nice to get a preliminary view of the place, if only to feed the excitement with anticipation. Maps have always been, for me, synonymous with adventure; a preliminary step toward discovery of a future destination. Maps always help me orient myself quickly to a place [...]
