Can you recognize this song before the chorus?

I have arrived in the US for home leave and will be here until mid-February. Have had a few re-entry issues this past week since arrival (AM/PM swap-jetlag, bronchitis and gastro resettlement), but things are getting better now. It is such a wonderful gift to be able to visit with people personally, look them in the eye, hear their voices and talk with them (and, of course, hold their babies). I can now exploit the high speed internet available in this country to post videos and pics from the last year!

This first installment is a clip from a leprosy research conference dinner held in Fukuoka, Japan in July. We were in a small boat when a couple of street singers happened to come by. I did not recognize the song until the chorus.

What is suspicious in this ad?

 

Annual staff picnic pics

 

"AIDS, malaria eclipse the BIGGEST child-killers: Diarrhea & Pneumonia

Sometimes it is difficult to understand the reality difference between what media portrays as epidemic health problems in light of what preventable deaths are occurring in populations lacking similar wealth and power (which generate media volume).

 

By MARGIE MASON (AP) – 22 hours ago

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5izfFuOGZyDVUQRBli6B_2qH-ppCQD9C2PQ9O3

HANOI, Vietnam — Diarrhea doesn't make headlines. Nor does pneumonia. AIDS and malaria tend to get most of the attention. Yet even though cheap tools could prevent and cure both diseases, they kill an estimated 3.5 million kids under 5 each a year globally — more than HIV and malaria combined.

"They have been neglected, because donor or partnership mechanisms shifted their emphasis to HIV and AIDS and other issues," said Dr. Tesfaye Shiferaw, a UNICEF official in Africa. "These age-old traditional killers remain with us. The ones dying are the children of the poor." Global spending on maternal, newborn and child health was about $3.5 billion in 2006, according to a report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That same year, nearly $9 billion was devoted to HIV and AIDS, according to UNAIDS.

Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children under 5, claiming more then 2 million lives annually or about 20 percent of all child deaths. AIDS, in contrast, accounts for about 2 percent. If identified early, pneumonia can be treated with inexpensive antibiotics. Yet UNICEF and the World Health Organization estimate less than 20 percent of those sickened receive the drugs.

A vaccine has been available since 2000 but has not yet reached many children in developing countries. The GAVI Alliance, a global partnership, hopes to introduce it to 42 countries by 2015.

Diarrheal diseases, such as cholera and rotavirus, kill 1.5 million kids each year, most under 2 years old. The children die from dehydration, weakened immune systems and malnutrition. Often they get sick from drinking dirty water. The worst cholera outbreak to hit Africa in 15 years killed more than 4,000 people in Zimbabwe last year. The country recently reported new cases of the waterborne disease, and more are expected as the rainy season peaks and sewers overflow. Rotavirus, a highly contagious disease spread through contaminated hands and surfaces, is the top cause of severe diarrhea, accounting for more than a half million child deaths a year. A vaccine routinely given to children in the U.S. and Europe is expected to reach 44 poorer countries by 2015 through the GAVI Alliance.

"Every child in the United States gets it, even though they have access to clean water and hygiene," said John Wecker, of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, a Seattle-based nonprofit that is part of the vaccine alliance. "The only effective way to prevent these deaths is through vaccination." Diarrheal diseases received more attention in the 1980s and 1990s, he said, but interest has waned or been diverted elsewhere, allowing them to creep back. "How did the leading killers end up at the bottom of the global health agenda? I don't know," Wecker said at a recent GAVI meeting in Hanoi. "We've got the tools. We're not looking for the next technological breakthrough. It's here now and it's not being used."

Death can often be prevented by giving children fluid replacement, a simple recipe of salt and sugar mixed with clean water to help ward off dehydration. Yet 60 percent of children with diarrhea never receive the concoction, according to a WHO and UNICEF report released last month. "It is so preventable," said Dr. Richard Cash, a Harvard University expert who helped develop the oral rehydration therapy 40 years ago. "Preventing the deaths is at the very least what we should be striving for."

 

The recent slapping incident

“PM 'trying' to make Begum apologize, Civil servants demand Begum's arrest, apology within five days” KATHMANDU, Nov 15: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has said he is working to make Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives Karima Begam apologize for her mistreatment of Parsa Chief District Officer Durga Prasad Bhandari, a high-level government source said. The prime minister said this during a meeting with senior bureaucrats at his residence Sunday who met him to discuss the matter. Nepal Government Employees Organization (NGEO), which is close to the ruling CPN-UML, on Sunday issued a five-day ultimatum to the government to arrest Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives Karima Begum and make her apologize for beating up the chief district officer. The organization submitted memorandums to this effect to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers through the District Administration Offices throughout the country.

A group of government employees led by NGEO-Kathmandu President Ganesh Thapa handed over the memorandum to Kathmandu CDO Bhola Shiwakoti. NGEO has threatened stringent protests if the demand for arrest and apology are not met within the set deadline. Government offices in Parsa that were closed for five days in protest of the minister´s misbehavior opened Sunday. All government offices in Parsa remained closed for five days reopened Sunday keeping in view the plights of the ordinary people seeking government services. The offices were opened after eight different associations of civil servants on Saturday made a decision to this effect.

Last Tuesday, Begam accompanied by about 50 of her supporters had beaten up CDO Durga Prasad Bhandari at his office allegedly for sending an old vehicle to pick her up at the airport. Begum represents the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum. After the minister faced strong criticism from various sides including the government, she changed her statement and accused CDO Bhandari of misbehaving with her and "not doing people´s work".

The District Police Office, Parsa has already issued arrest warrant against Begum and sought support from police in Kathmandu Valley following a formal complaint by Bhandari´s bodyguard. Begum is in Kathmandu but police have not arrested the minister saying it is unaware of such arrest warrant. http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=11826

Nepal slips in corruption index

Kathmandu, Nepal. November 17. Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption watchdog, said the level of perceived corruption in Nepal worsened in the year 2008. "Malaysia, Nepal, the Maldives and Afghanistan, on the other hand, saw their scores decline, representing worsening levels of perceived corruption," TI said in its annual report released globally on Tuesday. Nepal was ranked at 121 position of the index in 2008 but this position slipped to 143 position in the corruption barometer in 2009, according to TI. Only war-ravaged Afghanistan is behind Nepal in the index among the South Asian countries. Afghanistan ranked at 179 position has highest level of perceived corruption. (Neighbouring India ranked#80) http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=11894

Oct 24, 2009 Lamatar Medical Camp

Yesterday we performed a free medical camp in a small village area in the hills on the other side of Kathmandu valley, approximately 2 hours from Anandaban. We set up in a combined school/health post building in the area. Compared to other camps, fewer people came (<200). It was a smaller community than others we’d previously targeted but there were people there in need. Many of the first to arrive were children and orphans. Some were so small. Nine year old boys that were the size of a properly fed Nepalese 4 year old. (I asked several times and checked with an adult nearby.) In our team for the day, we had several foreigners that work here in Kathmandu – a Swiss nurse, a retired pharmacist, an Aussie pediactric nutritionist - plus a Nepalese dental assistant and a couple of Nepalese doctors that were in town who’ve served for years in more remote outposts, besides some of the Anandaban clinical staff (doctors, nurses, pharmacist). There was also a Aussie couple that is volunteering at Anandaban for 3 months (GP and occupational therapist). We collect clothes during the year for these camps and we never seem to bring enough for the kids. An older local boy (maybe 12-14yrs) in a school uniform helped to distribute the clothes with us. For most of the morning while the clinical people tended those who came, one of the Nepalese women in our team talked with the kids, clipping their fingernails. Some of the orphaned kids were managing to live with extended relatives but were supporting themselves by working odd jobs (no schooling). Child labor is common here with estimates that 42% of children 5-12 years old are working. I could not get much information on how they had lost their parents. Life here is hard. The hills are steep, falls and injuries occur with little access to or money for health care.

Early on, we found a woman needing cataract surgery in both eyes. We made arrangements for her to get checked in KTM and potentially have surgery (1-200 USD). One tiny elderly women hobbled in for gynaecological consult. She had a prolapsed uterus about the size of a grapefruit. The nurses helped her onto a couple of school desks arranged back to back in order to give her an exam. The Swiss nurse was stunned at what they saw. The woman had been in this condition for 5-6 years. Unfortunately, the demands of life here make this an all too common problem. This woman had been living for years hauling water and bags of supplies up and down hills, planting and harvesting rice and other crops, hand laundry, tending the animals and family in this condition. I do not even know how she could sit much less work. The medical staff discussed what to do. As there were no lights in the room and the windows had to be closed, I stood to block the door from others coming in while also trying to not block too much light so the doctors could see (Seth’s flashlight once again was most gratefully appreciated). A nurse tried to explain what the doctors wanted to do (push things back into place and something to hold things back in place). The tiny woman got very nervous and wanted her husband. One of the nepali doctors walked to the hill behind the building to get the husband who agreed to the procedure. It was over in a few minutes (performed on the desks pushed together). They gave her some Tylenol and water to drink. She sat there shaking. After 5-6years, in a room full of strangers, it was traumatic. Aftercare and provisions for further problems were explained – she may still require surgery. They were given some clothes and she quickly went home.

The medical team told me that they had done 3 of these at a previous camp – but as I had not helped in the OB/GYN room, I’d been unaware. With hundreds coming in a day, I can only glimpse some of the cases. The dental team stayed the busiest, extracting 28 teeth. A maoist motorcycle rally was going on for a couple of hours a few hundred meters downhill. As we were finishing the clinic, one of the kids that had been running about all day appeared again waving the red communist flag that someone from the rally must have given him.

As we packed to leave, someone mentioned that there was a tent resort area nearby with great views. We visited it on the way out. There was simple restaurant with a number of tents spread out on the steep hillside. But the view was stunning: the breadth of the Kathmandu valley with the crowning white Himalayas becoming visible in the clouds above the surrounding dark foothills. Afterwards, we drove back for a couple of hours downhill on roads that are mostly only wide enough for one vehicle. If another vehicle is encountered someone has to backup up until a site is found where one can squeeze past the other. I really appreciate the Anandaban drivers!

I’ve tried to post some of the pics from the camp below. I’ve now figured out how to compress photos making them easier to post with our internet issues.

These can be difficult places to work – but the need is great. It is a privilege to be given the opportunity to do something here. I hear stories from others that have been placed abroad to work. Horrible tales, unfathomable need. And the problem is that what we see is not isolated – it is all too common. But common does not dull the pain. Lift up your eyes. There is just so much that needs to be done.