Greetings from Ghana!

794 Views | 9 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by dermdoc
UTExan
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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.
dermdoc
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AG
Thanks for the post and sounds fascinating. I have always loved tropical and exotic dermatology. If I could get my wife to do a Derm mission trip I would do it.
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UTExan
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I forgot to mention med school/med lab science and nursing students are doing the fecal sample collection.

As the director said, "This is science you are doing".
dermdoc
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AG
We had to culture our own "crap" in Med school. Also had to draw blood on each other, start IVs on each other, and even put NG tubes in our own self. Humbling but worthwhile.
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Rusty Aha
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SoulSlaveAG2005
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AG
'Sup

One-Eyed Fat Man
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AG
Since you're in Africa, swing on by Zambia

Sounds like interesting work. I'd like to know more about the staple foods and nutrition there. I'm actually starting to work on our next newsletter, and I'm going to talk about food and nutrition issues. There's a type of groundnut which is similar to peanuts, called bambara, vigna subterranean, which has been called a complete food-it originated in West Africa. We bought some in the market several months ago, and our house worker, Charity, told Melissa it is considered poor people food, and only those women who have lost a child can plant it. Cultural struggles vs. food sovereignty vs. nutrition.
UTExan
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One-Eyed Fat Man said:

Since you're in Africa, swing on by Zambia

Sounds like interesting work. I'd like to know more about the staple foods and nutrition there. I'm actually starting to work on our next newsletter, and I'm going to talk about food and nutrition issues. There's a type of groundnut which is similar to peanuts, called bambara, vigna subterranean, which has been called a complete food-it originated in West Africa. We bought some in the market several months ago, and our house worker, Charity, told Melissa it is considered poor people food, and only those women who have lost a child can plant it. Cultural struggles vs. food sovereignty vs. nutrition.


Our time is strictly limited to rural Ghana right now. We have dined on red-red, kintumori, fresh caught tilapia, chicken and rice so far. Part of the time spent here was to go to a nutrition study, but support for that did not materialize. In the villages we see people pounding corn meal and palm nuts in mortar/pestle systems. The jungle/ rain forest provides a lot: bananas, plantains, mangoes, coco yams,cassava and chickens and goats thrive here along with some type of sheep with minimal fleece. Rice is a local crop grown along with cacao. The city folks, unsurprisingly, look down the villagers.
UTExan
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Went to three villages in the past few days. Yesterday, one of our transport buses tried to ford a flooded low spot and blew an engine. But Ghana is a nation of entrepreneurs looking to make a Cedi at the drop of a hat, so within ten minutes of walking, the director organized a shuttle of motorcycles from owners in the area to move medical staff and students from the flooded area to the village public health clinic three miles away-all for a negotiated price. With us was an eminent Ghanaian dermatologist who had never been to this remote part of central Ghana. He was surprised at the skin conditions-cellulitis, open skin lesions, probably from multiple causes, more common skin problems and one case of a bad infection probably caused by a machete strike glancing off the skin and left untreated.
There is also a maxillo-facial resident who did some clinic time in Kumasi.
Meanwhile, the antibiotic resistance study has been encouraging. Ghanaian jungle privies are nasty with all sorts of things, including massive amounts of maggots. One's crap does not merely stink here: it moves in an ideal growth environment. Only one fecal sample from three rural villages has indicated some degree of antibiotic resistance so far.
Social observations: Ghanaians have nowhere near the social infighting/bitterness or judgmentalism that one sees either politically or religiously in the US. Ghanaian students were overjoyed to see Obama elected, but I also got feedback that they thought Trump had done some positive things despite his rudeness.
They're as protective of their communities as Americans: when strangers with different skin colors come around, the neighborhood watch shows up to interrogate you, even if you do have a chief's permission to be there.
Finally, the strangest thing I have seen was a confederate flag sticker on the back of a private minivan. These minivans (trotros) are the public transit ( for a fee-these people would eat Wall Street alive and are the ultimate capitalists).

Edit for Dermdoc: testing of public latrines in the Barakese area came back positive for antibiotic resistance in four instances. Bad news but it means we need to get to work on something better.
UTExan
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Going to a rural village for assessments/treatments. Accompanying us were Ghanaian medical students.


In a village walking toward the local community health clinic. It is difficult to find community health workers willing to stay in these remote central Ghana villages.



Street scene from the Barakese area.



Kintampo Falls/central Ghana




Amazing African sunset



Obligatory elephant from Mole National Park



Yet another amazing African sunset.
dermdoc
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AG
Thanks
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
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