Salama (hello) Madagascar

As I start my 3-month volunteer placement as a pharmacist in Madagascar, I wanted to share some background on this incredible country and why Mercy Ships is needed. 

The island and its people

Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island - 2.4 times as big as the UK - located in the Indian ocean due east of Mozambique. The people of Madagascar are known as the Malagasy and the official languages are Malagasy and French following independence from France in 1960. The country is home to approx. 32 million. 


The country is probably best known for its unique biodiversity and its amazing flora and fauna, 90% of which is found nowhere else on Earth. There are 100 species of lemurs alone, alongside lesser known endemic species like the fossa and the tomato frog. 

 
The fossa: Madagascar's top predator

The ring-tailed lemur

Economy and daily life 

The majority of Malagasy people earn their income through subsistence farming, supported by mineral mining, fishing and forestry. Coffee, vanilla and graphite make up some of the primary exports to the US, France and China. While tourism is an emerging sector, it currently contributes less than 1% of Madagascar's gross domestic product (GDP). 

Sadly, Madagascar is consistently ranked among the poorest nations on the planet, currently standing as the 9th poorest country worldwide. Approximately 75% of the population live on less than $2.15/day and average life expectancy: 64.3 years. Additionally, it is one of the most climate vulnerable countries on Earth with severe droughts, floods, and tropical cyclones causing death, displacement, and damage to crops and infrastructure.

The healthcare crisis

The medical landscape presents immense challenges. There is only 1 doctor per 5000 people - far below the WHO's minimum threshold required to provide essential primary care. For comparison, the UK has 17 doctors per 5000 people. The statistics for pharmacy are even starker: Madagascar has just 1 pharmacist per 100,000 people compared to the UK's 1 per 1100 residents. 

Malaria, tuberculosis and other tropical diseases contribute to a vast, unmet demand for essential medical and surgical care and the country still sees regular seasonal outbreaks of the endemic bubonic and pneumonic plague. Public health centres frequently face complete stock-outs of essential antibiotics, painkillers and surgical consumables. It is typical even in public health facilities that patients are required to pay upfront for gloves, syringes and medicines before receiving treatment. 

It is against this backdrop of immense health need that Mercy Ships can help - and where my time the ship's pharmacy begins. I look forward to sharing more updates with you as the placement unfolds.

The Africa Mercy in Toamasina (Tamatave), Madagascar

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kama jana

Image
Only 12 days left in the village. It feels kama jana (like yesterday) that I arrived with my suitcase of impractical items. Time flies when you're having to continually think of new recipes that involve only three vegetables and some out of date stock cubes. Last month I learnt how to make bread. Only two of my loaves have resembled small bricks and I'm feeling confident about my chances of being a professional baker when I get home if the NHS won't have me. I am going to miss many things I've come to love in Nyangao. Having a cleaning lady tidy up after my baking disasters especially. I'll miss our security guard who sits outside the kitchen window at night even though it's guaranteed he'll be asleep before I am.  Instead of traffic, police sirens and the odd drunkard singing "Eye of the Tiger", I'm used to waking up to chickens and dogs scuffling in the garden or the giant monitor lizard clawing in the roof or the neighbours houseboy s...
Read more

Que Sera Sera

Image
This time last year I was preparing for my second Christmas in Tanzania searching the market for an elusive chicken willing to be sacrificed and roasted. I missed the crisp winter nights at home, the festive lights, the parties and Billy Idol blasting out in shops crammed with food, gifts, clothes and a billion other material things that seem indispensable on December 25th. But there was something to be said for the simplicity of being gifted a pile of mangoes and a packet of cashew nuts. Of not having to cook a meal that covers a dining table and is left half uneaten. No need to buy bigger better noisier presents or watch the Queen's speech or play games that end in stony silences over the evening turkey buffet. Where thanks are given to one God or the other for the blessings of family, health and income. Mangoes had never tasted so good. I loved being back in the UK. The supermarkets, dirty late night take-away's, fancy toiletries, Friends reruns, efficient transport ne...
Read more

TIT: This Is Tanzania

Image
Some Tanzanian miles have been covered in the last month. Back from 2 weeks in the big smoke, Dar Es Salaam, for VSO training and language lessons. I'm now equipped with what to say if the police ask for a bribe; I know it is rude to smell food before you eat it; inappropriate to hang your underwear in public view; bad manners to blow your nose or pass wind in company; culturally insensitive not to greet people and ask after their home, family, children, work, chickens, farm so on and so on. I also have a better idea of what I am here to help do. Incidentally, this is to ensure one million women and children have better access to health services and that mother and child mortality is reduced by 50%, by the end of 2015. It so happens that I am only here until the end of 2014, which kind of relieves the pressure on me somewhat. It was much fun meeting the other new volunteers.  Eating out, shopping, getting on buses with 30 pale-skinned, wide-eyed new arrivals; nothin...
Read more