Visites à Domicile: Tuberculosis

This month, Alassane is required to do VAD’s on Tuberculosis in 15 random compounds in Boutilimite, Dassilami Socé, and Sarudia. So this Tuesday and Wednesday, we got to work.

A VAD on Tuberculosis aims to do the following: explain the cause, signs, and symptoms of infection; list preventative measures; highlight the importance of seeking out early treatment; explain the process of getting diagnosed and treated for tuberculosis.

Ideally, a VAD’s audience includes the head of compound (always male, safe for rare exceptions), his wife or wives, their children, and any other kin living in the same compound.

(By the way, a compound is delimitated area of land upon which was built several huts shared by members of a same family. But remember that there is no such thing as nuclear family here, so sometimes as many as 30 to 40 people live in a single compound. My compound is pretty small by most measures, because it only houses 12 people: Almamy (my father), El Hadji (my uncle), Natoma (my mother), Awa (my aunt), my nephew and nice, my 5 siblings, and myself.)

These VAD’s have been challenging, though. 1) Now that the rainy season is on its way, everyone is busy prepping the fields for planting rice, peanut, sorghum, and millet. As a result, no one is home, safe for the grandmother and the youngest children (children older than 10 go to the fields). 2) My village has an organized group of health workers who were trained on how to convey information about Malaria, Diarrhea, Tuberculosis, and Malnutrition. The problem is, very few of them show up to scheduled events.

ASCs must submit information about the VAD’s to their supervisors at the Poste de Santé. Whenever Alassane does VAD’s, he is expected to fill in a chart that looks very much like the following:

Place	Date and Time	Head of Compound	Number of people 15 years and older	Number of people younger than 15 years
Sarudia	10-06-2014 9h19-9h25	Barama Sonko	1	0
Sarudia	10-06-2014 9h32-9h36	Adiatou Senghor	5	5
Sarudia	10-06-2014 9h42-9h47	Mamadou Seydi	2-3	2-5
Sarudia	10-06-2014 9h51-9h57	Bouna N’Bas N’Dour	2	3
Sarudia	10-06-2014 10h-10h04	Abdou Foune	1	0
Sarudia	10-06-2014 10h09-10h12	Ablay Seydi	2	4
Sarudia	10-06-2014 10h18-10h22	Mamadou Seydi	2	3
Boutilimite	11-06-2014	Sidi Diuf	8	10

So far, we’ve only been able to conduct 8 VAD’s total, because so few people are at home.

I’m pretty proud of myself, though: I was able to lead a VAD in Mandinka.