Kaduna Medical Trip

Earlier this week I joined one of our nurses on a visit to the care center we have in Kaduna.  Kaduna is about 4 hours NW of Jos and is the 3rd largest city in Nigerian.  The purpose of the trip was to give the kids their 2nd round of immunizations for hepatitis and polio.  

When these kids enter the orphanage, 99% have not received any of the basic immunization that we take for granted in the US.  It's very disheartening to think that much of the sickness and disease here is curable and even preventable.  

Take polio for example.  Polio is a viral disease that invade the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis.  Although the polio vaccines was developed in the 1950, the disease cripples thousands of people every year.  Sadly, you see the effects of this terrible disease daily as kids, paralyzed from the waste down, with skateboards for wheelchairs uses theirs hands to propel themselves from car to car begging for spare change at crowded intersections.  To think that this condition could have been prevented for about $10 breaks your heart.

Knowing this, you can know image the joy I had giving the kids their polio vaccine.  With two drops on the tongue, they're 2/3 of the way to never having to worry about contracting this horrific disease.