Transforming Church

Medical Assistance in Africa

On one visit to a village about 120 km from the nearest paved road, I came upon a man sitting in front of his mud house, clutching his hand. Looking closer I saw a swollen, infected wound. The man told me he had been attacked by a lion five days before. He arranged transportation to the closest hospital, but the truck that was supposed to bring him had never arrived. This was not an uncommon scenario.

I kept returning to Africa for longer and longer stays. I continued with my PhD research and completed several training periods in different hospitals, where I often witnessed sad and desperate situations. Government hospitals are supposed to treat patients at a very low cost, but the reality is that urgently-needed drugs often aren't available there. A patient will be prescribed medication but asked to buy it at a private pharmacy, where prices are too high for the patient to afford.

A typical example: children diagnosed with malaria. These children need effective treatment to prevent negative long-term consequences or even death. Drugs to treat malaria cost about $15, which is beyond most Kenyan families' means. African children often die of diseases that could easily be treated. Malaria, respiratory tract infections and diarrhea are the most common causes of death among children in developing countries.

In rural Kenya, a typical family consisting of parents, children and jobless relatives must all live on about $1.50 per day. It is simply impossible for many people to pay for medical treatment and drugs. For a short time, I was able to assist a few needy patients with money donated by my family and friends back in Germany. But these funds ran out quickly. When I had reached the end of my means as an individual, I decided to found Medical Assistance in Africa.

Medical Assistance in Africa (MDH) is a non-profit organization that provides healthcare for the poor in Kenya. MDH works in partnership with a hospital in Malindi, Kenya where needy patients receive treatment at minimal cost or even free of charge. MDH also runs a clinic in Kokotoni, a disadvantaged rural community. Some of the patients treated in Kokotoni walk through the bush for two days to reach our clinic-they have no other access to healthcare facilities.

In the remotest areas of the country, MDH operates mobile clinics run by teams of doctors, dentists and pharmacists. Sometimes the clinic will operate out of a schoolhouse or church, but often the best spot is underneath a shady tree. During mobile clinics, we'll often treat more than a thousand people in a day. Patients receive medical treatment, drugs and prescription lenses free of charge. The mobile clinics are important to our mission, since these people often have no other way to get medical care.

MDH also trains community health workers to care for AIDS patients. AIDS still carries a stigma, and many infected people die under miserable conditions. The public health system is overburdened, and many chronic cases are simply sent home to die. Our community health workers are there to care for people in their homes and teach relatives how to look after sick and dying loved ones.

Most of those infected with HIV are family breadwinners, which means that once they become too sick to work, the family often goes hungry. Children are taken out of school to care for sick parents. To alleviate this problem, MDH has begun a hunger relief program. Patients with advanced AIDS are given money to buy food, and orphaned children infected with HIV and their caregivers also receive financial support.

Medical Assistance in Africa is a non-profit organization-salaries are paid only to a nurse in at the clinic in Kokotoni and the community health workers. Most of our work is done by volunteers. We are always seeking donations to keep our work going. [information about how to contribute]

Dr. Olaf Forster is the founder and chairperson of Medical Assistance in Africa. He has been working in Kenya since 1996. He can be reached by e-mail at: olaf.foerster@mdh-africa.org