Ok, I kind of got behind on my intended weekly blog updates! Since my last post, there have been lots of changes to my work situation. Kelli, one of the other Global Health Corps docs assigned to Angola, and I move to the northernmost province of Cabinda.
That tiny piece floating by itself is still part of Angola - and my new home/work place!
It is closer to the equator than Luanda was, so it is more rainy, lush, tropical, and hot all year round. This also means lots of malaria, and coincidentally (we expect, at least) probably more sickle cell disease.
Over the last 2 weeks, Kelli and I have been busy meeting with local officials and doctors, working with the "maternidades" (maternity hospitals) training nurses and picking up our samples, and getting ready for a fast-growing clinic to get started soon! We already have 400+ samples just from the last 2 weeks, and statistically we should have found 6 or so babies with sickle cell disease, even though we don't even have our lab up and running quite yet.
We are amazed and excited at how quickly everything is already starting up here, and in the next 6 weeks or so, we should have a full and busy newborn clinic getting started as well. We will be able to provide the infants with prophylactic antibiotics to prevent the severe infections that they are at risk for, vaccines, and mosquito nets to prevent malaria.
Once the assessment/development phase winds down and the real action starts, I'll be sure to post another update!
The view from the window of our lab!
Ummm....what do we do now? ;)
First baby screened at Primeiro de Maio Maternidade
Lândana beach in Cacongo, Cabinda
