Full Circle Associates

Via Blogher I tripped across the blog of a medical student spending four weeks in a remote bush clinic in Galiwin’ku, Australia. The whole blog is a testement of why telling our stories is so compelling, but within one of the posts there is a gem that is worth surfacing again and again. lost in sasazuka - elective adventures:

diarrhoeal illness is the biggest killer of children worldwide, particularly those in underdeveloped countries. the oxford handbook of clinical specialties (OHCS) says 'southern diarrhoea is only an excuse for northern amnesia' ie the future of those born in the 'first world' is assured, at the expense of those in the 'third world'. this case was 'third world' medicine - dirty water & overcrowding, managed with with 'first world' knowledge and resources, yet it was still incredibly difficult and heartbreaking to treat.

i went home that night and saw a tv ad showing the plight of third world children, condemned to a life of diarrhoea and premature death due to the lack of clean drinking water. the ad called for donations to a community service group to help them build more wells, provide clean drinking water, and rescue these children from preventable 'third world' diseases. while ive never seen such ads calling for donations to help top end children in similar situations, i can't help thinking that the solution requires more than digging wells, or providing adequate housing.

to quote the OHCS again:
'if we want do do something for children, it is no good just doing something about the big killers, such as diarrhoea, and it's no good simply attacking poverty, for there is something dark in our human heart which needs addressing before purely statistical or biological interventions have a chance of success. there is only one way of influencing human nature, and that is through dialogue. so in this sense, the treatement of diarrhoea is dialogue.'

A few days ago I posted my ambiguity around "helping" and the possibility of misdirection or even harm. Kim brings it all back down to earth. The treatment of this disease is dialogue.