Getting Care in Kenya

The bite of an infected sandfly transmits kala azar, or leishmaniasis, to more than 400,000 people globally each year, many of them in Kenya.
 
Without treatment, the parasitic disease—which causes fever, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and weight loss—is deadly.
 
The Geneva-based nonprofit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative has focused efforts on kala azar in rural Kenya. The group is providing medicine, reducing treatment time, looking for an oral alternative to painful injections, and seeking to connect patients with care.
 
For poor patients from remote areas, says Mark Riongoita of Kacheliba Hospital in West Pokot, Kenya, “Getting to the treatment facilities is a big challenge.”
 
Source: Huffington Post