It has been about 4 years since I commented on HIFA/CHIFA postings. There are so many which come through every day. Some are pertinent to what I am involved with and some not.
4 years ago, what I wanted to respond to was a post from the venerable Dr. Massimo Serventi. His pithy and down to earth notes have always been valuable to me, as the work I do internationally has been 'boots on the ground' teaching and clinical work.
Everything Dr. Massimo says makes sense to me, but the strange thing is that some of what he says is repetitious. I say this not to criticize him, but merely to point out that the same problems continue to plague us.
In this case, medications continue to be misused by health professionals of all categories. And make no mistake about it, this problem is not restricted to LMICs. There is ample literature suggesting that it occurs in HICs, my country included.
So we have the conundrum of having lots of good health information and yet not making better decisions about prescribing.
This is what I remember about the letter from Dr. Massimo 4 years ago.
Namaste from Dharan, Nepal, where we are teaching local nurses and student midwives how to deliver respectful, natural, woman centered maternity care, which the ob/gyn community seems unaware of.
Mickey
HIFA profile: Mickey Rostoker, MD, FCFP, is Associate Clinical Professor, Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and Assistant Professor, Family Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Regina, Canada. He is a HIFA Country Representative: http://www.hifa.org/people/country-representatives http://www.hifa.org/support/members/mickey mrostoker AT gmail.com
