This week has been a little slower than the first two weeks here. Juventas was moving offices this week so I helped a lot with that and it took some time to sort through all the papers and material and organize them in the new office. It was interesting though to see how many brochures and other promotional materials they had made. I read through many of their brochures on topics such as contraception, HIV, Hepatitis, drug addiction, and many others and I was personally very impressed by the material presented and the manner in which it was written. These brochures are especially well tailored for young people and one of their major projects for which high school students volunteer is helping distribute the educational material to schools throughout Montenegro.
This week I did finish making a list of possible donors for the drop-in center and I found an especially good website of grant listings that was helpful in finding some very good grant possibilities. I also really want to talk with the Juventas staff about looking more into local companies and corporations for donations for the projects. They told me that that doesn't work here but it was very hard to find outside funding sources that include non-profit organizations in Montengro in their eligibility. I may look into talking with people I know who work in local banks and such to see what their thoughts are on the matter as well. Since I didn't have much work at Juventas, I organized a trip to a microbiology lab here that does all the testing for HIV, Hepatitis, and lots of other diseases. There, one of the microbiologists showed me around the lab and talked with me about all their protocols and procedures. It was really interesting seeing and learning about everything as what they do is actually quite similar to what is done in the US. They, for example, have all the necessary equipment to do ELISA tests for various viruses and they do confirm all positive HIV cases with a western blot. Basically, beside the older equipment and the fewer amounts of it, they are able to do any test that may be needed by a patient. It was fun to see my microbiology class pay off as I had done some of the tests she was showing me and it felt good to be able to ask her more detailed questions about everything and to be able to understand
alot of the science she was talking about. For HIV in Montenegro there have currently been about 70 cases of which I think about 46 are currently alive. It is very interesting that there is only one doctor here who works with each HIV patient in Montenegro. He knows every patient really well and follows them throughout their life. I hope to be able to meet with him while here. All his patients are on antiretrovirals which are paid for by the national health plan. Every three months they have their CD4 count and viral load checked which is done at this microbiology lab. In general, there are fairly good health care options for those with HIV although some do have to travel several hours by car to see the one doctor. Just another interesting fact from the lab is that they were very excited to show me their new PCR machine. They had just recently bought it and it is I think one of the only ones in Montenegro!
Also, from my experiences thus far, I am very confused by the healthcare system here. It seems to be something in between a socialist and private system. I guess Montenegro is in the process of privitizing lots of things and health care is one of them. So right now there is both a social system where everyone gets some type of health care but then there are also private hospitals and labs where people with good jobs and health care insurance can go. These private clinics have better equipment and resources and patients don't have to wait as long to get seen and to receive test results but they do have to pay more. The woman I met with at the microbiology lab worked during the day in this non-private lab and then worked afternoons in a private lab which provided slightly better pay. I don't really understand why if the socialist health care system has worked so well in England and France and the private system is so terrible in the US that Montenegro would want to go towards privitizing health care but that is what is happening. Also, last week lots of doctors and nurses were on strike because of the super low pay they receive for the long hours they work. Imagine being a doctor and not having a salary big enough to buy an apartment. It is really strange how little they make here. It was a big mess though because lots of patients couldn't be seen as most doctors weren't working. The politicians are still discussing how to resolve all this and a big issue is under the counter payments patients have to give lots of doctors to be seen.
For next week, one of my biggest goals is to really work out a long-term plan with Juventas so I can better understand what to expect for the next two months. Even now, I don't know exactly what I will be doing next week so it is hard to set goals and make plans. I will most likely be doing work on the report on sexual health workers which I have started but am currently waiting for a response from the police department for more specific data. Also, the research study will be done next week so there will most likely be lots of work in analyzing the data obtained and organizing and writing up all the results. I will also be battling the heat as the temperature here is really starting to rise now. It is consistently over 100 degrees and I have been told that throughout July it is commonly in the 110-120 range. My 20 minute walks to the office and back are definitely getting harder.
No comments:
Post a Comment