Part 2 of our going series from Dr. Staab as he shares his experience on a recent medical team to Liberia.
“Our medical team arrived in March 2022 at the Joma Ordoe Memorial Christian Academy in Monrovia, Liberia, and set up under a mango tree. Due to the pandemic, it’s been three years since the last medical team paid a visit! Our goal was to conduct health screenings for the 30 sponsored children at the Academy.
These children often have access to a local doctor when they are sick. But this is reactive care, and the child’s overall health is often not assessed. We assess many details: height, weight, hair color abnormalities, hand-washing practices, stool habits, hemoglobin numbers, and malaria bouts. A lively eight-year-old may appear to have a clean bill of health until you investigate these small details.
This eight-year-old maybe three inches under-height or twelve pounds under-weight. He or she may also go to school hungry, suffer diarrhea, miss school due to malaria, and drop IQ points. Our medical assessments are vital to identifying systemic health issues so they can be addressed. Our medical team’s health screenings are just one of the many ways sponsorship via GlobalFingerprints can make a difference in the livelihoods of children across the globe!”
