Government Health Campaigns

The job description of a Peace Corps volunteer isn't as straight forward as you might think. For example, I'm technically a preventative health educator intervening primarily in maternal and child nutrition, malaria, and water and sanitation. Many health volunteers also work on improving existing infrastructure, or facilitating infrastructure development at our respective sites. Most of our work is intentional--carefully planned, organized, and executed. But sometimes, we spontaneously participate in those events that just seem to come out of the blue, like government health campaigns.

I should start by noting that these health campaigns probably shouldn't so spontaneous. I think that part of the problem is inadequate or untimely communication between the different levels of the health system. By the time the information is trickled down to the lowest level of the health system (ie: health hut), it's pretty much time to get down to work. There's very little time to come up with an action plan. As a results, we often run out of medications, forms, or equipment. Last time, my supervisor forgot to give the chalk we needed to label the compounds we had visited. The work itself is often rushed: we're working on a dead-line, there are too few volunteers, and the target is too high. We have to visit each compound, which entails walking for hours in the heat and sand. It's also hard to be meticulous when kids are swarming around you, all clamoring or crying. So I'm sure the work isn't very high quality.

http://www.memoireonline.com/08/11/4636/m_Contribution--lamelioration-de-la-gestion-des-stocks-de-medicaments-cas-du-dept-de-la-pha13.html

The last campaign took place February 20th through February 21st. Our mission was to give deparasitizing medication and vitamin A droplets to children under the age of 5. Different age ranges got different doses of medication. Simultaneously, we also had to use a MUAC band to asses the child's nutritional status. 

Alassane wields le MUAC band 

Mama gives a child drops of Vitamin A

And then it gets a little crazy.... 

Not sure how legible this is--but here is the form for Boutilimite 

This campaign was particularly difficult: 

-There three things to do: give anti-parasite medication, administer the Vitamin A drops, and measure arm circumference. 

-Many kids cry when they see Alassane, because he sometimes gives them shots. It's not easy to swallow and cry at the same time. 

-Sometimes, the kids weren't home or were crying too hard, so we have to give the medication to the parents. Did they actually give the meds to their kids? No way to know for sure. 

-We would sometimes come across swarms of children so overwhelming that we couldn't possibly take MUAC measurements. 

Hopefully, we'll do better next time....