Tanzania medical mission

I accompanied approximately 40 medical and support personnel on a medical mission with Outreach Africa to Tanzania in October. Outreach Africa’s mission is to provide safe water, food, education and medical care to children in need in developing countries. Our medical staff included three pediatricians, three surgeons, two anesthesiologists, 20 nurses, two pharmacists, four pharmacy students and numerous support personnel. We traveled to Singida, a town located in central Tanzania, where we treated 530 patients during 7 days.

Because the native language is Swahili, we used local personnel who also spoke English as translators. A young American woman who was finishing her tour with the Peace Corps in Tanzania was additionally helpful as a translator (she lived in Tanzania for 1 year and learned enough Swahili to help us).

Of these 530 children, 38% had a negative z score (–1, –2 or –3). Common infectious diseases diagnosed included viral upper respiratory infection (URI), tinea capitis, tinea corporis and acute tonsillitis. Additional infectious disease diagnoses included tuberculosis, malaria and schistosomiasis. One of our surgeons, an otolaryngologist, treated numerous cases of impacted cerumen, many children with otitis media (and perforation) and numerous children with tonsilar hypertrophy and obstruction.

Neck mass was an additional common diagnosis by the otolaryngologist. In total, the surgeons performed 51 major procedures and 30 minor procedures. All of the children, and the few adults we also treated, visited the pharmacy lastly. Here, all children aged 6 to 9 months received albendazole (Albenza, CorePharma), an anthelmintic, for prevention or treatment of various types of worm infections. All infants and children also received at least a 90-day supply of multivitamins with iron; more were given for z scores of –2 or lower. Prenatal multivitamins were given to mothers with infants, as breast milk is the main nutritional source for most infants. Other commonly dispensed medications included oral antibiotics, topical antifungal creams and oral antifungals.

Upon leaving Singida, most of our team traveled to Tarangire National Park for a 2-day safari. Here, we saw hundreds of beautiful wild animals, including elephants (this park has one of the highest concentrations of elephants in Africa), zebras, wildebeests, water buffalos and giraffes. We also saw a cheetah, two leopards (one was sleeping up in a tree) and a ball python up in a tree. Perhaps most beautiful to see was a pride of about six female lions resting under a large tree. They were resting only about 30 feet from the dirt road through the park, and we stopped to look at them for some time.