What We Can Do

The comments below outline simple and proven ways of helping communities' combat crippling illness. Most if not all the communities we work in have a physical infrastructure to support medical clinics. What they lack is funds to pay the wages of nurses and doctors, medical equipment, medicines and resources to fund educational programmes within the community. We can provide the funding, equipment and resources, and volunteer input to get medical clinics up and running, and, find ways of making them sustainable:

HIV - Better testing for HIV is a priority in many countries as this allows more effective treatment. Poor countries can achieve a lot by even improving education (which is key) and access to condoms, even if they cannot afford expensive drugs as the HIV virus is transmitted in body fluids including blood, vaginal fluid and breast milk; most commonly during sexual intercourse.

Malaria - Medications such as chloroquine, mefloquine, and quinine may be prescribed. These work by targeting and then killing the parasite which causes the disease. A lot of effort and money is now being targeted at prevention schemes, thus preventing the disease from developing in the first place. Prevention strategies, such as removing sites around the home where mosquitoes breed (swamp/ marshland) are especially successful for people in areas where the malaria risk is high. Other methods such as sleeping under bed nets are used which are especially effective if they have been treated with insecticide.

TB – In over 90% of patients, tuberculosis can be cured with appropriate treatment, which consists of taking several different antibiotic drugs for 6-12 months. The cure relies on close cooperation between patient and doctor to ensure the correct amount of medication is taken and for the right amount of time.