Thank You

To all the wonderful people who volunteered and attended the Blue Jean Ball on Saturday despite the snow and cold: you are amazing. To all the people unable to attend, but who have donated their time, or resources, or money: you are also amazing.

Your efforts affect a wide population that encompasses the Northern Zone of Tanzania. Since KCMC hospital is 1 of only 4 Referral Hospitals for the entire country of 40 million, it officially serves as the hospital of last resort for a population of 15 million people (and also the Kenyan villagers who live right across the border). We have seen patients come from Zanzibar, from Kenya and from the Ugandan border based on the reputation of KCMC hospital. The reality of KCMC is that it has knowledgeable specialists and intensive care possibilities, but frequently lacks the most basic resources such as functioning hemoglobin machines, or blood in the blood bank, or patient gowns for surgery.

None of this is new information, and all of our previous blogs have touched on different aspects of working in low-resource situations. But the one thing that keeps us optimistic is our Duke team's ability to contribute to women's' and newborn's health care.

And on Saturday, 350 people attended and 125 volunteered at (and countless others donated to) an event to raise funds for people that they will never meet.


Because of you:

1. There are women and babies alive in Tanzania who otherwise would not have survived. Due to donations of:
*Ambu bags to resuscitate babies
*Medications to save laboring mothers lives (to treat preeclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, infections)
*Money for intensive courses on managing emergency obstetrics and newborn resuscitation that have trained more than 255 people in Tanzania so far

2. There are women who have new-found hope in a healthy life. Due to donations: *Allowing doctors (such as Jeff, Masenga, the global health residents) to travel to rural areas to perform fistula surgeries
*Providing women with fistula funds to travel to KCMC and get treated
*Providing women with cancer funds to travel to the only cancer center in Tanzania- located 600 miles away.
*Providing funds for fistula patient's families or nurses to accompany them for support;
* In surgical equipment and supplies to perform more complex surgeries.

3. The doctors and nurses at KCMC and other hospitals in the Kilimanjaro Region have more chances to be empowered. Due to donations of:
*Stipends that allow local midwives and doctors to teach the emergency obstetrics courses to other Tanzanians. Our research has shown that instructors retain their knowledge of emergency obstetrics better.
*Scholarships to allow our local KCMC colleagues to attend important international and national meetings for continuing education as well as disseminating best-practices
*Medical books and supplies that are not available (or are prohibitively expensive) locally, given to colleagues who demonstrate initiative in patient care.

4. Patients have something to smile about. Due to donations of:
*Infant blankets and caps, handmade by people in the US! Sometimes the only gift the baby will have.
*Hundreds of infant caps donated by a North Carolina company, kept the heads warm of so many newborns.
*Money, the poorest patients have received personal items that they could never afford, such as clothes and hygiene items.


Thank you

Sumera