A few days ago, I overheard the discussion of two young mothers waiting for their babies’ lab results. One of the women was telling the other that ‘uma afo’ is caused by one black thing, that once the baby poops it, uma stops and vice versa. She went on to tell the woman that she shouldn’t come to the hospital for uma, that it’s taken care of traditionally.
If you have been following my posts, you’ll know that I’m passionate about proper education on ‘uma afo’. Therefore, I didn’t find that conversation funny. I was like, “When will mothers listen?”
A few weeks earlier, a lady and her husband rushed in with a 2-year-old baby. This baby’s body had been marked with a razor on her face, chest, and abdomen. It was a sign they were coming from a traditional home. The baby had splenomegaly, couldn’t breathe properly, and looked so weak and pale, constantly gazing at her mother.
The lab request was for malaria parasite and full blood count. This baby’s PCV was 9% and we had to alert the doctor even before we finished the rest of the tests.
We quickly found compatible blood and the doctor started the baby off on blood transfusion. I went on to finish the rest of the tests and behold, gametocytes (mature form) of malaria parasite were scattered all over her blood film.
I suddenly got very emotional. Why wouldn’t the baby’s pcv be low when she has had a chronic malaria infection? Why wouldn’t she have uma (splenomegaly)? I was so sad because a simple malaria diagnosis would have saved the baby all this stress that almost cost her life.
I went to the ward and decided to have a chat with the mother and and her husband, to educate them. I went on to tell her about uma and how it always has an underlying cause and can be treated by treatment of the underlying cause. But this ignorance of going traditional, what are they treating exactly without knowing what caused it, by proper diagnosis.
By the next day, post transfusion and malaria treatment, baby was up and kicking. Few days later, they got discharged. Simple!
If you haven’t read my post on ‘uma afo’, please click here and also educate your yard people.
Stay informed. No use your hand kill your pikin.
Maureen.
Medtrix 