Monday, April 1, 2024

Humanitarian Mission in Madagascar

 by Marie-Line Martin, retired nurse (level A2) 



During two weeks  I went to Madagascar, not on holiday but to take part in a humanitarian mission. ARMADA is a French association which organizes six times a year, on four different journeys, some medical consultations with a team of general practitioners, pediatricians, gynecologists, pharmacists, dermatologists, dentists, physiotherapists and nurses. We went from village to village by boat because there isn’t any road, each time to the same place so we always followed the same patients.  

When we arrived in the villages, the people were happy to see us. I did a lot of burn bandages for domestic accidents among children. There are a lot of children with malnutrition, I taught  mothers, or grandmothers when the mother is dead, to make and to give bottles with infant milk and to make some hyper-caloric porridge.


We did a lot of malaria tests and treatments, infections of all kinds, injuries, scabies, dermatological diseases....We evacuated several sick people, malnourished children, a woman with a serious malaria crisis, another woman with a huge dental abscess who had to be operated, suspected appendicitis...  

It was a great experience, very testing,  and I hope to return next year. 

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