Medical Care on the Brink

Tight Standards and Simple Equipment, Not Massive Grants, Could Bring Improved Health in Africa, Journal of the National Medical Association (JNMA) Study Says.

Dr. Eddie L. Hoover and his team reported from their many visits to Africa by the American Medical Team for Africa in the paper "Medical Care on the Brink: The Need for Re-Engineering Healthcare Services in Sub-Saharan Africa." The team found that since communications, transportation and monitoring of hospital and clinical conditions are so poor, western aid agencies and corporations need to rethink how they provide grants and medical technology to the continent.

"The days of just sending $10 million are over,' says Hoover, a cardiothoracic surgeon in Buffalo, NY. 'These facilities need education in sanitation, medical record-keeping, and the basic equipment to test urine and blood for disease. Aid providers and host countries need to impose standards, as well. You can't deal with HIV when local doctors don't have the ability to even measure blood sugar."