This month on Med Gambia

For the first time in the history of childbirth in The Gambia, one Ramatoulie Jallow, a resident of Serrekunda London Corner, on Wednesday afternoon, went under the knife in a major caesarean operation that led to the birth of conjoined female twins.

It is often said that doctors are the leaders of health care teams, they give the instructions and nurses carry them through. This assertion is being questioned in various circles in the developing world. In Ghana, for example, the debates rages on as to who makes a better District Director of Health Services (DDHS) nurses and doctors. More

Cholesterol is a lipid molecule which plays a major part in the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. It is usually transported in the blood bound to proteins (forming lipoproteins). More

The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in Africa, and yet it has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the continent. According to the World Health Organization, the maternal mortality ratio in 2005 was 690 deaths per 100,000 live births. Unofficial estimates have quoted a much higher figure. More

Malaria is a disease which is rampant in areas with poor environmental sanitation. It accounted for about 8% of deaths in all ages in the Gambia in 2002 (WHO), and the disease accounted for 29% of all deaths in children under 5 years of age between 2000 and 2003 in the Gambia (WHO). Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity in the Gambia, leading to the loss of thousands of hours of productivity and income for the country. Improved sanitation would lead to instant changes in the incidence of malaria. More

Tourism is one of the Gambia’s major foreign exchange earners. What is the impact of this flourishing industry on the health of the nation? The tiny West African Country is one of the world’s topmost sex tourism destinations and this has widespread implications in terms of child sex abuse, the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. More