New heart disease prevention mission in Gandiol
Back from a heart disease prevention mission in Gandiol
This heart disease prevention mission is the result of a collaboration between the team of Professor Bara Diop and the association of the residents of Gandiol located in a rural area of the Saint Louis region (Senegal). The mission was perfectly executed.
The medical teams arrived on 6 August 2017. Consultations started the following day for five days of intensive work. The human (50 doctors, cardiologists, nurses, technicians...) and logistic (medical trucks, echocardiography and electrocardiogram equipment...) means implemented have enabled the teams to achieve the initial objective of the mission which was to evaluate 1,000 children and 1,000 adults from among the population.
About 1,000 children were examined and as many ultrasonographies were performed. Fifty of those children were diagnosed with heart diseases and redirected to the Cuomo Centre for Paediatric Cardiology in Dakar. Some of them will benefit from a heart treatment designed to stop the evolution.
About 1,000 adults have been examined, with a rather worrying health status: 50% suffer from hypertension, 6% have diabetes and 10% tested positive for proteinuria. Those figures are well above national averages (STEPS 2015 survey).
On the morning of 12 August, results were delivered to the population of Gandiol (very receptive to the mission) and to the medical authorities at local and district level. This concluded the mission. Prevention messages were also delivered in order to raise awareness among local populations.
We would like to thank: Eiffage, Sonatel, Sénégal Tours, Lions Club, SOS Médecin Sénégal... for their contribution to the mission.
