Having medical officers present is important for chronic diseases

Jona is a 7 year old in Gashanda, Rwanda, who was seen for a mass on his shoulder.  In this region of the world, masses such as this are most likely tuberculosis.  TB is very hard to eradicate without proper adherence to medication.  If a patient missed a few days of his medication, the bacterium can easily become resistant.  This is not only serious for the patient, but for the community as well.  Treatment lasts for nine months, which makes it even harder to adhere long term to the regimen.

Having a clinical officer in the village is so important in these cases.  The patient is required to check in at the clinic on a routine basis and the clinical officer monitors the medication’s effectiveness as well as compliance.  Without this close watch on the regimen, it is almost impossible for a patient to complete a nine month course of medicine, and hence will likely succumb to the disease and may spread resistant TB in the community.  Thanks to your donation, Jona will get the observation and follow-up he needs to make a full recovery.