Week three...

This past week, we went out into the villages to visit the PHUs. We visited a village where we referred three women and their severely malnourished children to the hospital for treatment last week. There, we saw that two of the three women had run away from the hospital the evening of the day they arrived. Their excuses vary, but we know that the mothers come back to work on the farm and take care of the other children… even when the life of their severely malnourished child is at risk. There are even some mothers who refuse to come to the PHU for referral. We also see mothers who come to the PHU to meet the nurses only to refuse the referral to the hospital for the child’s treatment. The best we can do is to explain to the mother that they will be taken care of at the hospital and that they must go to the hospital for the sake of the child’s life… but that’s the best we can do.

This week, I’ll be attending the opening ceremony for the new Therapeutic Feeding Center at the Magbenteh Community Hospital, which is run by an NGO based in the Netherlands. I’ll also be at the meeting at the Portloko District Hospital representing the National Organization for Welbody. It’s a monthly meeting where all the NGOs that work in the Portloko District as well as UNICEF come to discuss their progress and limitations. I plan on asking about the future of Plumpynut supplies to the PHUs, among other things.

Next week (the last week of June) I’ll be spending at the Magbenteh Hospital working at the TFC. It’s the only major TFC in Sierra Leone. There, I’ll see and work with the most severely malnourished children that are referred to the TFC for treatment… wish me luck!