winter time

Well, its officially winter now. When Bertand, our taxi driver, picked us up for a meeting this morning he was dressed in toque (thats a woolen cap for the Americans) and down jacket. My guards are similarly dressed, bundling to keep the cold away. The daily high temp is 34C (or 92F)! I can't imagine how people tolerate being bundled up like that. Though it is cold at night right now... well, cold is relative.... its getting down to 15C.

This week we have been visiting the various "associations" - local non-profit groups that work for people living with HIV / AIDS. I have been really impressed by their motivation and hard work. There are many of these groups in Bobo, and they have a variety of activites, including voluntary counselling and testing (mostly of adults), treatment (of adults - the kids are refered to Dr. Nacro, with whom we work at the hospital), nutritional support (through donations from the World Food Programme), and various psychosocial activities. They provide much of the psychosocial and drug adherence support as well.

I'm also spending some time in the microbiology lab at the hospital, and one interesting lesson is that the way things are perceived on the wards is not necessarily the way things really are - thats very true in Canadian hospitals too by the way. I was struck though by the disconnect between what the lab director says is available, and how long things take, from what we were told on the pediatrics ward. It will be important for us to build this relationship I think. And work on the systems problems within the ward that are keeping us from getting the tests we do think are important.

Take care - and be careful in the slippery roads & real winter weather that I know many of you are facing.
Love
Laura