This week Dr. Zaman held a seminar at the BU African Studies Center on one of his main areas of research, compromised drug supplies in Africa. Quality control of drugs in developing countries is a growing problem, one that can stem from deliberate counterfeiting of drugs. More commonly, though, the quality of drugs declines due […]
We’re excited to be back in Boston and getting to work in the lab. This week we determined what our device focus will be: a renal and kidney function test that will help diagnose severe cases of pre-eclampsia. Currently, sophisticated testing for liver and kidney function – specifically blood tests – is expensive and widely […]
This weekend Dr. Zaman came to Zanzibar, and we had a productive couple of days with him. On Saturday he met the SUZA medical students for the first time. We spent a few hours updating him on our findings in the field from the past four weeks, and got him up to speed with the […]
Within the past week we’ve been able to visit the three biggest hospitals in Unguja: Mnazi Mmoja, Makunduchi, and Kivunge. Between those three and three more rural hospitals, we’ve spoken to over 100 mothers and 30 health workers. We have confirmed that the three biggest problems pregnant women face are anemia, post partum hemorrhage and pre-eclampsia, however infant mortality […]
This year the month of Ramadan is from June 17 to July 17, so we overlap with a significant portion of it while we’re here. We’ve been told that Zanzibar will really come alive once Ramadan is over, but it’s been incredibly interesting to experience the religious culture of Stone Town. The fast begins at […]
For our first weekend in Stonetown we were able to go on a couple excursions. Saturday we took a dala dala, the local bus, to Mbweni Ruins. The ruins seem to be the remnants of a huge stone palace, and they have an adjoining tourist beach. That evening, we took an evening cruise on a […]
Thursday July 2nd, we had our first meeting with Dr. Salum and his second-year medical students at SUZA. We had a nice discussion with the team about our plan of collecting information and data from different medical centers and mothers. There were many questions we had to consider while discussing our plans.
Last Wednesday was the first day we met our host families. These families, like the rest of the Zanzibari people, are very welcoming and want us to feel like Zanzibar is our home. We shared Iftar with them and are treated as their own children. Maya happens to have the same host mother as Jasmine, our […]
Last week we put the condom-catheter Uterine Balloon Tamponade (UBT) to the test. We filled the balloon with 0.5 liters of water and tested out how long it would last – UBT’s are usually needed for anywhere up to 48 hours. The UBT lasted over four days. […]