Medical Assistance and Health Situations in a Third World Region of Sub-Saharan Tropic Africa

• Published in: Haseki tıp bülteni 2015-09, Vol.53 (3), p.281-282
• Main Authors: Merdin, Alparslan, Birge, Özer, Avcı Merdin, Fatma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Darfur; female genital mutilation; medical assistance; Sub-Sahara; tribal harmful treatment; Tropic Africa
• ISSN: 1302-0072; 2147-2688
• DOI: 10.4274/haseki.2596

Darfur is a region in the Western Sudan. It is an autonomic state in Sudan. In 2008, Darfur's population was 7.5 million with. 52% aged 16 years or younger (1). There are many tribes living together in Darfur. There are small conflicts still going on in some regions of Darfur. However, the main war ended in 2010. Most of the people have problems more important than health in Darfur. There is no healthcare system or health insurance system for the community except for a very small part of the society. The majority of the people do not have money to pay for their healthcare needs. Although most of the population is below 16 year age, child patients in the hospitals are in less numbers. This may be because of the fact that children cannot tell about their complaints. The other reason may be the evolution: the stronger and healthier ones live. In developed countries, the society resist to this ancient theory of biological evolution. Doctors resist to evolution and try to make the weak and ill livings live longer. Nevertheless, here, in Sub-Saharan Tropic Africa, this evolutionary rule still goes on especially for children. Malaria is a major health problem in this region. Malaria should be one of the first things that doctors keep in mind in the etiology of fever in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, doctors should not trust totally to the laboratory results here. Since Plasmodium falciparum is the most prevalent and most dangerous species in this region, and may cause cerebral malaria, antimalarial treatment should be initiated immediately where there is suspicion of malaria. Diabetes mellitus is also common in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Due to unavailability of refrigerators in most houses, insulin usage is a big problem here. There are also no houses and no electricity for most of the population. Most diabetic patients who need to use insulin cannot afford to buy insulin. Even if they buy, most of them do not have place for long-term storage of insulin. It is hard to be a diabetic patient in this region. Most of traumas in developed countries occur due to traffic accidents and work accidents. In this part of the world, there is no traffic problem like in the other developed parts of the world. Besides, there is not a big industry. Thus, doctors rarely see traumas in this region. Since most trauma patients live in villages or in far part of the cities, most of them can also not reach the hospitals. Female genital mutilation that causes many health and sexual prob