Health education with creativity

  Understanding HIV/AIDS- Part 2 Signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS Signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS The symptoms of HIV/AIDS depends on the individual and the stage of the disease. The following are the stages of HIV infection as well as the signs and symptoms. Stage 1: Acute At this stage, the virus may not be detected and the number of CD4 cells in a milliliter of blood is around 800, so most people may be asymptomatic, that is, they may not experience any signs and symptoms. If you experience any of the signs and symptoms, it does not necessarily mean that you have been infected with HIV, this is because other diseases may present with similar symptoms. However, if you think you may have been exposed to the virus, get an HIV test done. Within a month of HIV infection, some people experience flu-like symptoms including; Fever, Chills, Rash, Night sweats, Muscle aches, Sore throat, Fatigue Swollen lymph nodes, and Mouth ulcers. Stage 2: Chronic At this stage, the viral load increases a...

  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke. My name is Dr Sampson Galena. I am not like any of the doctors you have met.No, I’m not your regular doctor. The regular ones  are law abiding, docile, calm ,pacifists, and adjust to situations instead of making their voice heard and making changes for the better. I do not have such weaknesses.Many at times this lands me in serious trouble but I always wriggle my way out, one way or the other , until the case of the Christmas catheter . The day was Friday, the 25th. The month December and the year, the worst year in all the history of mankind, the coronavirus year. I was on duty that blessed but accursed day, at the war zone, the emergency.  Being  on duty at the ER on a Christmas Day was as hectic as it was prejudiced. Also the duty commenced as early as 6am in the morning till 8pm in the evening and it was usually meted out as a camouflaged  torture. I arrived ...

Understanding HIV/AIDS - Part 1 "The human body is a conversation going on, both within cells and between cells." - Danny Hills You live in a mosquito prone area somewhere in Accra, you go to bed and wake up the next morning with tiny itchy bumps on your skin. A few days later you begin to experience fever, chills, sweating, headache, weakness and other symptoms. That is right! You have been bitten by a mosquito who was probably harbouring the plasmodium parasite and you most likely have malaria. In as much as the tiny itchy bumps, swelling and all the other symptoms may feel uncomfortable and awful, they are signs that your immune system is in good shape and working. There were an estimated 38.0 million people living with HIV at the end of 2019 and it has so far claimed about 33 million lives. – WHO The immune system is a vast network of cells, tissues and organs and it is the body’s safeguard against infections, diseases and ill...

Hands washing and Infection Prevention T he Covid 19 pandemic sent the whole world into a hand-washing craze. Veronica buckets with diverse innovations flooded public workplaces and markets. Hand sanitizer business became the new gold rush and the price of soap soared high into outer space but the most jaw-dropping thing that happened was the sudden abundance of hand sanitizers and liquid soap on our hospital wards and even the outpatient departments. When there was no pandemic these items were as scarce as hen’s teeth, and sometimes even water for rinsing was hard to come by , let alone getting running water to do hand washing the right way. Health workers had to break infection prevention protocols on countless occasions due to these challenges. COVID 19 came to glorify hand washing and that is one of the few good things the pandemic brought to us. Hand washing (or handwashing), also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning one’s hands with soap (or equiv...