Arrived on Saturday via KLM (never fly Air France to Africa) and we flew up to Kumasi. There are 28 University of Utah med school faculty, docs doing residency, nurses and pharmacy/med lab staff. There are three projects underway: collect samples from public latrines in the rural Barakuma/Barakese areas and expose them to late generation antibiotics in a lab setting to determine pathogen resistance to said antibiotics with a view toward modifying antibiotic treatment regimes. That is the on my wife is involved with: I am photographing and working with a geography grad student who is developing a mapping regime for the findings. The local Ghanaian teaching hospital in Kumasi is working in conjunction with the KNUST medical school to analyze results. Our university also worked with The Ghanaians to help build health care centers in the rural areas and staff them with community and staff them with workers equipped with bicycles. All this was done with alumni and donor contributions.
The second study is about dermatology issues (Dermdoc!) but I am clueless as to their research results.
The third thing is to get docs, nursing students and allied health field students to screen rural villagers for high blood pressure. Amazingly, some 40 per cent of rural Ghanaians in this area have high blood pressure, but not a high incidence of cardiac or cholesterol-related problems. These folks get referrred to the local hospital for follow up.
Ghanaians are overwhelmingly Christian although they seem to get along with Muslims, largely because there have been no real radical elements. Ghanaians still have a village culture looking out for neighbor children. Nobody is hungry and everybody seems to lack for food. Most of my photos are university property but I will try to take some phone cam pictures and post when I get back. Blessings to all.
Edit: nobody lacks for food to my observation. Ghana may be poor but everybody on the street, in the villages, etc seems to be well-fed. You may fall in love with Ghana if you visit here. The climate is more comfortable than College Station in July, for certain despite the high humidity. Of course, this is the rainy season.
The second study is about dermatology issues (Dermdoc!) but I am clueless as to their research results.
The third thing is to get docs, nursing students and allied health field students to screen rural villagers for high blood pressure. Amazingly, some 40 per cent of rural Ghanaians in this area have high blood pressure, but not a high incidence of cardiac or cholesterol-related problems. These folks get referrred to the local hospital for follow up.
Ghanaians are overwhelmingly Christian although they seem to get along with Muslims, largely because there have been no real radical elements. Ghanaians still have a village culture looking out for neighbor children. Nobody is hungry and everybody seems to lack for food. Most of my photos are university property but I will try to take some phone cam pictures and post when I get back. Blessings to all.
Edit: nobody lacks for food to my observation. Ghana may be poor but everybody on the street, in the villages, etc seems to be well-fed. You may fall in love with Ghana if you visit here. The climate is more comfortable than College Station in July, for certain despite the high humidity. Of course, this is the rainy season.