Wed 12th January 2011

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS FOR GOLI IN PATIENTS

This two year old girl, Mary, was carried on foot for 12 miles by her mother to Goli Hospital.  The child was suffering with acute watery diarrhoea, fever and vomiting.  On examination the child had a temperature of 39C, was lethargic, had swollen eyes, was unable to drink, and the skin pinch returned very slowly.  The mother reported that the child had been sick for four days at home.  Laboratory investigations revealed malaria parasites in her blood.

Within 24 hours of treatment, the child improved and could now drink oral rehydration salts.  The child began initiating breast feeding and eating some foods.  On the fourth day of admission, the child had begun playing on the bed and the fever had gone.

The mother said that the condition of her daughter was getting worse the longer she walked to the hospital.  If she had had to walk the further 17 miles to Yei, she didn't think that the child would have survived.

Malaria, acute watery diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections are the three most common conditions that keep the children’s ward busy.  For every five admission cases, three present with diarrhoea.  The levels of dehydration vary depending on the duration taken to reach the hospital.  Causes of watery diarrhoea in Goli include unclean drinking water and poor hand washing habits leading to faecal-oral transmission.  The mother was counselled on proper hygiene practices to prevent the disease in the future.

Reported by Timothy Gikunju, Clinical Officer

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