Tohoku and Kumamoto: Long-Term Medical Issues

It's been the same old problem.  A disaster occurs...the international clinical and control teams sweep in...21st Century Western medicine puts on a high impact show...and then they leave; and things go back to normal.  

We cannot afford that with infectious diseases like Ebola.  IMCRA's mission to make certain that we hit the problem hard at the epicenters of disease.  We aim for the places where a poor understanding of nutrition, resistance, hygiene and medical care is common among the people and substandard techniques of diagnosis, isolation, surveillance and treatment are frequent among their caregivers.

In late September we began working with IMANI house in Liberia to reach clinics around Monrovia in areas like Jahtondo Town, Brewerville and the Po River district.  IMCRA faculty are experts in infectious disease and and containment and will make themselves accessible via our interactive instructional programs and apps for the hand-held devices in use in some of the more remote regions.  Your donations now will help make these programs blossom and continue and will help our firends at IMANI house extend their educational services in regions with a high potential of being impacted by Ebola.

• Clinical first response when Ebola is suspected
• Patient isolation and surveillance
• Facility-wide policies for prevention of nosocomial transmission
• Essential gowning procedures for physicians and nurses
• Objective review of optimal utilization of antibiotics by class
• Implementation of interdisciplinary teams for long-term Infection control
• Best practice SOPs for community outreach and field medicine

We've also entered into an operational partnership with Research Associates Laboratory and Biopttica to deploy rapid, multisample DNA/RNA Ebola detection devices to field clinics in Liberia, Guinea and Senegal. These systems provide:

• Rapid processing (~1 hour) of up to 96 suspected Ebola samples per run
• Simple unit technology enabling high degree of accuracy and volume for all operators
• Enhanced early detection and isolation to contain outbreaks

As always, it is your donations that will help us carry through these critical programs.  Ultimately these efforts must reach beyond western Africa.  In a world where highly infectious diseases can be carried globally in hours, education and containment are our most powerful weapons.

Links:

• importance of global education on infectious disease
• Ebola Spread in Africa 2014-2015