When Bullets Fly, These Medics Grab Their Packs And Treat Patients On The Run

This article is part of HuffPost’s Project Zero campaign, a yearlong series on neglected tropical diseases and efforts to fight them. Everyone takes work home with them sometimes. But in civil war-torn South Sudan, some health workers take theirs on the run. In areas where armed groups have stormed into hospitals and shot people dead in their beds, or gutted and burned clinics, staff for the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) at times has had to run with patients and hide in the bush to continue treatment. Last year, a group of MSF health workers in the particularly hard-hit town of Leer, in Unity State, took things one step further. Instead of fleeing from and returning to their hospital again and again, they stuffed backpacks full of stethoscopes, disinfectant and medicine, and began setting up mobile clinics anywhere they could find a safe spot.  Aided by community volunteers, these health teams treat people taking refuge in hard-to-reach places ― like the islands of the Sudd, Africa’s largest marshland ― and can escape with their equipment if attackers catch up. Bodies have littered the streets of Leer, a once-bustling market center, several times since fighting broke out in 2013. There were four attacks on MSF’s hospital in the town before the group stopped rebuilding and restocking it. The facility was leaving the group’s workers, patients and supplies open to violence and robbery. In July 2016, just und...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news