Vitamins (3)
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Dear Janice,
much sympathy with your Vit A question; obviously people are very keen
to promote its use and consumption given the known benefits. However,
giving tablets raises the question: What will people do when tablets
run out? BASICS (http://www.basics.org) did some wonderful work in West
Africa identifying cheap local foods which are vitamin A rich and then
promoting their use. Also, if one gives anything to children, will this
create a "handout" mentality? (Perhaps best for gifts to go through es-
tablished NGOs.)
I had a similar quandary while taking a holiday here in Madagascar -
when people approach you with sick children, how can you help them in a
way that isn't just passing, and which does more to satisfy one's own
need to help rather than any real and lasting good? A British doctor
working in Indonesia found that simple teaching about the importance of
hand-washing with soap before eating gave an 85% reduction in diarrhoea
and that this improvement was still at 75% a year later. Maybe purchas-
ing low-cost local soap to give to parents whom you spend time with
would be a good present/exchange item?
Maybe diarrhoea isn't a "key, easily solvable problem" in Kenya/Uganda
as it is here in Madagascar. Perhaps you could share skills in wound
care (e.g. importance of boiling dressings) or infant care - as a woman
it will be much easier for you to spend time with women than it would
for me or even perhaps a man from the country concerned. Above all, it
would be well worth popping in to an office of a health NGO in a city
in either country to ask them if there is a health message that they
are trying to get out to the areas you will be in: so much the better
if what passing people do can reinforce the work being done by in-
country workers. You could ask the UNICEF field office the best place
to go for specific information.
Hope this is helpful - feel free to be in touch. Incidentally, there is
an organisation called 'Tourism Concern' which looks specifically at
issues like this; if you have trouble finding them on the Internet, let
me know and I'll dig out direct contact details.
All the best,
Andy
--
Andrej Taylor
c/o Agnes, Projet Survie de l'Enfant, SALFA,
BP 4402, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
Phone messages in English/French via Madame Agnes or Volatiana:
+261-20-22-331-58 / 22-286-52
Fax: c/o Royce on +261-20-22-337-67
when doing fieldwork: mailto:taylor@salfa.org
or mailto:andrew762493@rocketmail.com
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