Mona Lisa Africa
Doctors' mails
TESTIMONY OF DR BRAUD
Gyneacologist and Treasurer of the ASAM Association
Let me introduce myself: I am Dr Joëlle BRAUD, gynaecologist in Pau since 1980. When my two daughters left home, I had more time at my disposal. It has been for a long time that I was contemplating to make myself more helpful and of more use. The opportunity came when a friend of mine, who works in a travel agency in Mali and is often confronted with poverty and question around medical problems, came to see me. Thus, we have formed the ASAM (Health Aid to Mali).
The activities of the ASAM Association
Through the association "Hope for a child", we could have made it possible for Yadiéma, struck by Blount's disease.
Following this, as her leggs did not make it possible for her to climb the rocks of the valley in the region of Dogon , we obtained a scolarship for her (as she has fallen far behind) so that she will be able to work in an office one day.
Then there is Ibrahim, who suffer from Pott's disease.
The diagnosis was made very late and the treatment delayed...
He had been sent to Gossi with his whole family to the pharmacy of Sister Anne-Marie Salomon, in the bush. She is a doctor who does wonderful work and he is there up to this day, although he cannot work, he is supported by the people around him.
In 2004 there was a severe drought in Sévi, followed by a locust plague. Many surrounding villages were touched by famine. As an emergency, we had millet distributed to the villages the most affected.
Two years later, I went to the village. There a woman said to me: "Had you not given millet to our children, they would be eating sand today".
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| We brought treatment to a albino girl who was burnt by the sun. | And another who had feet injuries. | And there is Seo, whose mother died while giving birth and whom Asam feeds and dresses. |
Children are of great importance in the Dogon region : it is better to have many children to work on the land when the parents become old after hard work of years.
The attention with which the older people receive is directly related to the number of children they have. Therefore it is not easy to talk to them about contraception which they find a difficult choice to make especially because mortality amongst infants is still high.
The mothers work non-stop, crushing the millet, searching for wood (which is more and more rare to find) and water (which is further and further away)... They know that falling pregnant too soon after the birth of their last baby (which is common nowadays) puts the life of the previous child in jeopardy because their mutual ties are cut too soon.
Many women do not want to hear about contraception: they are concerned about long term sterility...
A few are shy to listen, but as they already have 6 to 8 children, why not?
Some of them already tried so that they can space the time between pregnancies better. In Sangha where the people are poor, the only means of contraception is the delayed injection with medroxyprogesterone.
During my last 2 stays there, I started creating more awareness on the various contraception methods amongst a number of women, two matrons of the maternity, the nursing staff, and of course with the doctor at the hospital in Sangha (but he is working alone as doctor and already has lots of work).
When HRA pharma's representative introduced me to the Mona Lisa project, I was quickly convinced and received 10 IUD devices from HRA pharma.
I had a few in my own stock and during the last few days in the region of Dogon, I started teaching this method of contraception to certain people at the hospital: the doctor, the two matrons, the nursing sister and four "student nurses".
After one lesson on the theory, we practiced the use of the devices on a plastic uterus and then inserted 4 of them in selected and willing women.
In a few months the doctor of Sangha is supposed to come to Pau to do a course in perfecting his surgical skills.
I will surely not forget to ask him where we are standing with our exercise with the IUD devices as contraceptive method. Then we will decided together how we can follow up on this action.
For personal reasons, at the moment it is not foreseen that I will return to Mali in 2009, but rather in 2010.