Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner

You can use the book to look up specific illnesses, symptoms, and medications, or browse by chapter for more holistic information about conditions impacting different body systems or groups of people (children, pregnant women). It's an incredible resource, comprehensive yet written in simple, clear language intended to be accessible to someone with basic literacy. Where There is No Doctor is a guide for caring for people's health when resources are extremely limited because of distance, poverty, or poor infrastructure. It is fantastic, and anyone interested in community health would be remiss to be without it. I travel with it constantly, and use the pictures and diagrams to explain concepts to my community. I have used this book extensively it is dog-eared and marked all over. But as more editions are printed, and the epidemiological climate changes, I am sure it will be updated accordingly. In addition, a more comprehensive section on TB, particularly dealing with the growing threat of drug resistant strains, would be quite useful. Western care may not be available or even appropriate for these disorders, but it would be helpful to acknowledge them and their symptoms - schizophrenia and psychoses are just as common in the developing world as anywhere else - and explain that these are in no way supernatural. Some issues that I can raise is there is a lack of resources for mental health care while the appendix contains information on substance abuse, there is relatively little on caring for those with mental disorders without resorting to claims of demonic possessions or curses (which, in my experience, is a pretty common default diagnosis). Although it is an old book, it has been updated with added appendices on a host of modern medical issues, including HIV/AIDS, prenatal care,geriatric care, contraception/family planning techniques, and a catalog of modern medicines to combat diseases.

Everything from how to take blood pressure (and what those results actually mean) to a differential diagnosis of stomach pain, it has become essential to me in working with community health workers learning to deal with major medical problems.

It is an immense source of knowledge of medical conditions, treatments and resources available for communities without professional help available. If you have joined the Peace Corps, you have read this book.and probably reread it about twenty five times after.

Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner