Hesperian Health Guides........ Where There Is No Doctor

[Owly055]

     I do not own this book, or any of the Hesperian Foundation's books, but I'm adding it to my list.   Available on CD also.  The Hesperian Foundation is a non profit that has worked tirelessly since the 70's to provide health care guides to people in remote parts of the earth.  Simple, useful, and understandable and very comprehensive stuff from what I've been reading.   This book has been published in over 100 languages, and the entire collection of manuals are available for download in 26 languages.  If it's anything remotely close to the hype, it's a book a world cruiser should have not one copy of, but several.  In some remote part of the world (or not so remote) it might be a treasured gift.

Here is a snip from Wikipedia:

In the British Medical Journal, a 1998 review said:

    Chances are that if you visited a remote district hospital in a developing country you would find a well thumbed copy of Where There is No Doctor in its library. The book is intended primarily for village health workers, but generations of doctors and medical missionaries who have worked in under-resourced communities globally will vouch for its value in providing concise reliable information.[6]

The book was referenced in a 2004 article in The Lancet, entitled "Can we achieve health information for all by 2015?" Underlining the importance of straightforward information in the language of the reader, the authors wrote that:

    A community health worker may find a single copy of Where There is No Doctor, adapted and written in the local language, more useful than access to thousands of international journals.

                                                                         H.W.

[Bubba the Pirate]

Thanks for that. I'm going to order a set.

[rorik]

There's also a good companion to it: Where There Is No Dentist

[PommyDave]

There's also a good companion to it: Where There Is No Dentist

I used to own both books but lost the Dentist one years ago. From memory it had no help regarding extractions, but some advice on doing temporary emergency fillings. I suggest you try to flip through a copy before you buy... Perhaps your local library can order it in for you. Good luck!

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[ralay]

I thought they were an interesting read.  They do spend a lot of I'm discussing content that would be useful for a village health practitioner but not most sailors.  A third of the books deals with the STIs, family planning, pregnancy, childbirth, and infant diseases.  There are also sections on dealing with superstition, germ theory, nutrition, interacting with the public, etc. 

If shelf space is at a premium, it may be more efficient to buy books with a focus on first aid/marine medicine.  We have A Comprehensive Guides to Marine Medicine in our first aid  kit.  The Hesperian books are still interesting to read and free PDF copies are floating around the internet for folks who want a preview.

[Norman]

Printable PDF's offer the option of selecting and printing the relevant pages, and deleting the rest.  Thus you have a slim reference, not a thick book.  That requires that you make a custom index, so that you can find the topic you need, rapidly.

At work, as a lead employee, I had a fairly complete first aid kit containing a very basic American Red Cross booklet.  In addition, I had the comprehensive, 3/8 inch thick AMC manual, which I page marked for the most likely fast response emergencies for the type of work that we performed.

We worked in high voltage substations, and often with only two present.  Separating a victim from the source of energy was absolutely critical before touching him, then 911 and resuscitation, in that order.  When a new employ was assigned to me, this part of the book was reviewed, as my life might depend on him or her doing each step quickly, and in the right order.

In our world, broken bones were trivial, as was any bleeding that was not major.  No heart beat, or no breathing, can not wait for an ambulance.

When I retired, the first aid kit was considered personal equipment, and remained in my personal car (we reported to our work locations in our own cars, and carried personal equipment where ever we went).  The company vehicles each had a kit with the slim, condensed first aid guide.

It is important to have a guide small enough to find what you need quickly, but complete enough to successfully treat the patient, or yourself promptly.