Volunteer Medical Teams

Spurred on by reports of polio cases in northern Cameroon, GeoAid International joined the Ministry of Health’s annual vaccination campaign, supporting a mobile team to carry out large-scale vaccinations over a 3-day weekend throughout Lomie District. The team completed 104% of their goal for the district.

Darfur veteran Dr. Louis Perrinjaquet, MD, MPH (Harvard) had spent most of October 2009 as a volunteer for GeoAid in Cameroon. The family practitioner from Breckinridge, Col., specialized in tropical medicine at the London School, and has experience not only in Darfur, but also in Honduras and Nepal.

“Dr. Louis,” as Lomie people in Lomie District call him, had already assisted GeoAid in processing the medical supplies container donated from Medical Teams International that had arrived earlier in the month. The supplies will be distributed to clinics in Cameroon. He also provided direct health services at clinics and villages in the mining impact zones of Lomie District, and traveled to Bamenda to visit the PanAfrican Academy of Christian Surgeons affiliate to lay groundwork for future collaboration in-country.

GeoAid’s health representative, Georgette Fruawah Che assisted Perrinjaquet during the vaccination campaign and served as translator. But the campaign is not just about man-power; the vaccination must be kept cold until use – so the GeoAid vehicle was used to transport not only staff, but also to deliver to strategic locations refrigerators that run on bottled gas or electricity, to maintain the “cold chain” for this and future national vaccination programs.

“Many times I have been told that [the Ministry of Health] just couldn’t have done it without the extra vehicle,” Perrinjaquet reported. He also saw to other needs as they arose, whether for necessary medications or the use of a motorbike to bypass difficult road conditions. “It is fun for me to be able to add a little extra support that is just what is needed at the right time to make a big difference.”

Another critical medical need in the Lomie District is to take care of dental situations that are generally solved with teeth extractions. Dr. Louis pulled more then 100 teeth which eliminated a lot of pain for the local population.