One of the joys of delivering medicines to those in need is that the medicine doesn’t just change the person physically, but many times it changes them emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and even socially. That’s the case of both these stories. Misdiagnosis of Buruli Ulcer lead each patient’s family to believe false rumors about them, and ultimately to exclude the patient from their family. With the help of MAP International Ghana, local health district teams were able to correctly diagnose both cases of BU. Their treatments dramatically changed the lives of these patients both emotionally and socially, as their families began to accept them again. Be encouraged as you read:

Yaa’s Story

Yaa Kwamaa is a 55 year old woman from Aboabo, a suburb of Dormaa Township. She is married with eleven grown children.

Upon discovering a small nodule on her right leg about a year and half ago, she did the ‘normal’ thing of first applying some herbs, and when that failed reported to the clinic nearby. However, none of the nurses could help her due to the lack of skills in recognizing and managing Buruli Ulcer and watched helplessly as an ulcer consumed her leg while she was hospitalized for 4 months. The last resort was for the family to leave her to a spiritualist to deliver her from the ‘witchcraft’ inside of her.

Six months later, Yaa Kwamaa was discovered by the district health team after radio announcements were made in an active case search to find and treat the many hidden cases of Buruli Ulcer. The case search also helped build the capacity of the health workers in the area to manage the disease with financial and technical support from Map International Ghana.

Thankfully, Yaa Kwamaa has completed her treatment and the ulcer is almost healed. She is now very glad to be walking again and thankful that the nurses can help her, but above all she is delighted that she is no longer excluded from the family.“I am very happy that my children have accepted that I am not a witch.  I was neglected by my own children, but now they call, want to visit and buy things for me. I am very grateful to MAP International for the tremendous support. God bless you.”

Yaa is now a strong advocator for BU care. She has helped many others discover and managed their cases, by spreading the word on BU, and even helping patients with wound care practices.  

Map International continues to support the Dormaa district health administration to train their health staff to deal with the many cases that are now arising that were previously not considered endemic to Buruli ulcer.

Samuel’s Story

Samuel Oppong, a 36 year old native of Kranka who is a husband and father of four, was accused of having committed adultery with a married woman when nodules, which later developed into large ulcers, were found on his genitals and the inner parts of his left thigh. . This accusation was accepted by all, including his family, because it came from the native doctor after he consulted with the spirits, but such behavior had not been witnessed before.  Movement became difficult for him and he was rendered bedridden due to the severity of his situation and neglect of family members.

The situation lasted till Esther, the nursing officer in-charge at Kranka health centre, attended training on BU case identification, management and referral. The training session was organized for health workers in the Nkoranza North District and supported by Map Ghana. After returning from training, Esther identified Samuel’s case as Buruli Ulcer and referred him to the Holy Family Hospital.

Samuel was admitted at the Holy Family Hospital, placed on antibiotics for two months, and has had a first skin graft done to help his ulcers to heal faster. After this period, his ulcers began to heal and  he was discharged home. Now he goes to the health centre every morning where his wound is dressed by Esther while he is  preparing for a second skin graft which is to be carried out at the big teaching hospital in Kumasi.

Samuel is very happy now as he is accepted again by his wife and children. They now accept the condition was not due to a curse but due to the bacteria that can be cured with drugs. He lives happily in his family house and he looks forward to soon resuming his work and normal life.

Since it’s beginning in 1993,  MAP’s Travel Pack® program have shipped 28,500 packs to 115 countries. That is a fact that we at MAP are extremely proud of. We estimate that over 17,000,000 treatmentshave been sent with medical missionaries in these Travel Packs.  For those readers infamiliar with our Travel Packs, I would like to introduce you to a program that has saved countless lives, and for those readers who are Travel Pack veterans, be encouraged by the difference that you are making in the communities across the world.

The Travel Pack program was designed by physicians experienced in missions to help short-term medical mission teams acquired the most essential medicines and medical supplies for the developing world. It is designed to relieve the time consuming and lengthy process of identifying diseases common to developing countries and then choosing appropriate medicines to take. Most commonly, Medical teams set up clinics in the developing world and use medicines provided in the Travel Pack to eradicate solvable problems. MAP partners with Johnson & Johnson to provide Tylenol, Band-aids, toothpaste, cold medicines, antibiotics, and much more. All medicine is packed in 1.5 cubic feet boxes allowing medical teams to designate them as carry on items while flying.

MAP offers three options when purchasing a Travel Pack. The Travel Pack ESSENTIAL® provides mission teams with one pre-packed box of the most vital medicines, while The Travel Pack ORIGINAL® provides two pre-packed boxes. For the third option, medical teams can custom order medicines from our warehouse for a specific community at competitive prices. The custom order will be expedited in 4-5 weeks. These options give plenty of variety for any organizations participating in short-term missions. If you are an organization looking to purchase a Travel Pack, click here order a Travel Pack Original for $400 or a Travel Pack Essential for $250 until the end of September as a part of our Customer Appreciation Quarter. 

This fiscal year, we have shipped 1,176 packs to 68 different countries through the month of June with an average US wholesale value of $14,000 per pack. Here is what customers are saying:

“The MAP order included a good, basic variety of medications for our medical mission.  Global Brigades continues to use your packages because they are well-equipped with useful medicine.”

 -Lisa Simpson, Honduras

“Six weeks prior to the trip, I adopted my pastor’s ‘doing whatever it takes’ mentality to make this second medical mission a reality.  With limited time, I scrambled to find appropriate medicines and medical supplies.  To find MAP International online was like a dream come true.  The Travel Pack Essential was not only a great selection of adult and pediatric medicines, but it arrived in the short time remaining.”

-Karen L. Connelly, MD, Dominican Republic

We praise the Lord and rejoice that his Kingdom is being brought to earth through MAP’s Travel Pack program.

Still curious about Travel Packs? Here are the FAQs for the program.

Since we recently introduced you to Dr. Julien Ake, our country director in Cote d’Ivoire, We would like to share some stories from another office in the area, MAP International Ghana. MAP’s Ghana office was established in 2008, and is overseen by our Cote d’Ivoire office. Two programs have been launched in Ghana.

The first is a Buruli ulcer treatment program. If you are unfamiliar with Buruli ulcer, it’s a disease that mainly affects a patient’s skin. The causative organism actually belongs to the same family of organisms that cause leprosy. A small nodule from Buruli ulcer can turn into a destructive, infectious sore. Similar to leprosy, the effects of this disease run deeper than just the skin as Buruli ulcer often harms a patient not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. Patients are sometimes shunned from their families and friends as this disease spreads on their body. MAP Ghana is fighting to quickly diagnose cases of Buruli ulcer and give patients treatment at an early stage of the disease. Here is a success story from our Ghana team, as treatment of Buruli ulcer has dramatically improved Bintu’s life:

Bintu with her mother

Two years ago, a little nodule that appeared on her right leg developed into a large ulcer.  While she could still manage to walk to school with the ulcer, her school mates and friends began avoiding her, which eventually led to her dropping out of school in 7^th grade. Little could be done for Bintu because the nurses in the clinic nearby did not have any knowledge or skill in managing such large ulcers at the time.

Many hidden cases of Buruli ulcer came to light including Bintu’s after radio announcements were made by a new district health team. This team along with financial and technical support from MAP International Ghana is dedicated to finding and treating the many hidden cases in the district, as well as building the capacity of the health workers to manage the disease.

Now Bintu has completed the antibiotic treatment and is appropriately managing the ulcer. With further support from Map International, Bintu plans to get a skin graft over the remaining ulcer to help the wound heal completely.

Soon Bintu will be able to return to school. The prospect of resuming her normal life already makes her very excited. “I am very happy that the nurses can now help me. I want to be like a normal girl” she says. Bintu’s mother is very excited as well, “I am very grateful to you (MAP International), you can take her with you anywhere and I know she will be safe.”

MAP will continue to help the Dormaa district health administration train the health staff to deal with the many cases of Buruli ulcer that were previously not considered endemic to the disease.

MAP Ghana’s second program is the Total Health Village in Tumiamayenko. MAP currently has 12 THVs in operation and many more are in the planning stages. Each of which is an innovative project that facilitates self-empowerment so that communities are able to solve most of their own problems. The program is set up so that MAP is not a service provider, but rather a facilitator guiding the communities to identify their own needs, analyze their own situation, and engage in solving their own problems. This low input cost strategy impacts about 1,000 people in each village including Mr. Jonas Boateng. Here is his story:

 

Mr. Boateng with his net

Mr. Jonas Boateng, a married man with three children, is a farmer and a community member of the Total Health Village in Tumiamayenko. He lives along with his parents and two siblings.

His family has experienced frequent malaria attacks as a result of mosquito bites and spent a significant portion of his resources on medications.

 With the support of Map Ghana through the Malaria Free Zone project, Mr. Boateng’s family was provided with insecticide treated nets. His entire family is now protected from mosquito bites and its associated diseases. These simple nets free up his family’s time, energy, and money, that would usually be used retrieving and paying for medications, to be used on something productive.

 He is very happy and praises Map Ghana for providing him and his family with insecticide treated nets. He says, “I am very thankful to God for bringing Map Ghana our way. Before Map Ghana came here, my family and I used to suffer from malaria as a result of mosquito bites, but thanks to Map Ghana, we now sleep peacefully and are healthy because we are protected from mosquito bites.”

These are just two of the hundreds of stories of how MAP is bringing Health and Hope to West Africa. Do you have any stories of Health and Hope? If so, share them in the comments area.