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SHARE Kenya Team to Depart Nov.
26
Aiming
to build relationships and their knowledge
base, Ohio University physicians,
researchers and students will embark for
Western Kenya on November 26 to provide
medical care and conduct research from
Nov. 27-Dec. 21. The health-care group --
made up of physicians, students and alumni
from the Ohio University College of
Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) -- will be
based in Kisumu, Kenya, and will be
working daily at the rural Ahero clinic,
as well as at public hospitals in Kisumu.
The
research team -- which includes Ohio
University international development
studies students and members of the
Tropical Disease Institute at OU-COM --
will be studying tobacco use in Kenya, the
prevalence of parasitic diseases, the
feasibility of solar-powered electricity
for schools, testing for sickle-cell
anemia, and looking at the avenues in
which Kenyans receive their health
information.
The
33-member SHARE (Student Health Assistance
Rural Experience) Kenya team will also be
helping to fulfill a promise Benson Bonyo,
D.O., a native Kenyan and a 1998 graduate
of the Ohio University College of
Osteopathic Medicine, made to himself more
than 30 years ago when he saw his
9-month-old sister die of dehydration in
his village of Wangaya near Ahero.
Bonyo
started SHARE Kenya, in part, to make good
on a pledge he made as a child to somehow
improve health conditions in Kenya and
help other children avoid tragedies at the
hands of preventable diseases. He helped
lead a small group of medical students to
Kenya during the inaugural program in
1994, and was part of a larger contingent
of Ohio University physicians, medical
students and allied health care
professionals that traveled back to Kenya
in 1997, providing care to 3,000 patients
in the rural village of Ahero and
weathering the effects of a national
nursing strike, cholera outbreak and
flooding. The spirit of those journeys
continues this year, as another group
prepares to return to Kenya to share their
skills and develop an appreciation for
health care in a developing
country.
For
more information, please read the
full
text of this news
release.
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