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GIA 2004 Excellence Winner
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Erica Lloyd, Editor in Chief,
Pitt MED Magazine
Jessica Mesman, Author,
Pitt MED Magazine
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The Robert G. Fenley Writing Award - Solicited Articles
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Lesotho Diary
Today's medical students and doctors often worry about more than
their patients close to home. Some volunteer their time, knowledge, and
energy to treating individuals in countries ravaged by disease and ignorance
about healthcare. In 2003, four students from Pittsburgh traveled to and
worked in Lesotho, a country on the southern tip of Africa, bringing some
relief to an area with few resources and many problems. They kept a diary
of their activities.
Goal
- Practicing medicine in the West means doing everything necessary to
save a life. The same concept does not apply elsewhere in the world.
Where sickness, malnutrition and civil strife consume populations, doctors
must prioritize patients, working hardest to heal those who most likely
can be saved.
- Pittsburgh's Lesotho Diary was designed to convey the sparse, rudimentary
conditions in which field doctors work to heal patients and save lives.
The school anticipated the student perspectives would prompt readers
to contribute financially to the work done overseas.
Results
- Pittsburgh's Lesotho Diary painted a clear picture of the challenges
physicians face when battling HIV and AIDS in a society in which many have not
been educated on nor is there general discussion about the disease and where folk
remedies are used to combat the epidemic.
- The diary also sheds light on the intense need for the most basic
medical equipment, including latex gloves and scrubs.
Read the full narrative (Word document)
Contact: Erica Lloyd, Editor in Chief, erica.lloyd@pobox.com
Back to GIA 2004 Awards for Excellence Winners
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