Dr. Nat's Journal

In London, when I was planning a holiday, my first step would be to peruse guidebooks at my favourite travel bookstore, with a particular focus on the ‘when to go?’ chapters. I always left the bookshop with less money, a heavy bag of books, and either a date in mind for the destination, or a destination in mind for the date.

Having moved to Zambia for a year, I will soon find myself in a country at the exact time of year that I usually try to avoid – wet season!

Yet rather than dread, I am filled with excitement at the thought of the imminent rains.

Read on…

In 1847, an Austrian obstetrician (Ignaz Semmelweis) figured out that hand washing in hospitals saves lives. On trying to persuade the medical profession of this fact, he came up against considerable resistance, with public ridicule and dismissal from his post at Vienna General Hospital. Nonetheless, in 1861 he went on to publish ‘The Aetiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever’, and his legacy lives on today as the pioneer of hand hygiene in clinical practice.

150 years have passed since Semmelweis’ seminal work on hand hygiene, and the world today is much more accepting of his findings. It is widely agreed upon that hand hygiene helps in the prevention and control of communicable disease. Nowadays, all healthcare workers receive training about the importance of infection control measures such as hand washing. However, is it always practiced?

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Back when my parents were at primary school, a large emphasis was placed on the 3 R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic.

In more recent years, a second set of 3 R’s (which all actually start with the letter R this time) has been introduced. Reduce, reuse and recycle is the modern mantra taught to encourage social responsibility through waste management.

The 3 R’s are meant to be a hierarchy, in order of importance. Hence, we should start by reducing what we use, followed by reusing, then recycling.

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After spending a long weekend in South Luangwa, I have now seen where Will spends his time working here in Zambia, and I am quite jealous. Whilst the hospital has its charms, the spectacular natural wilderness that is Will’s workplace is on another level.

Being married to a wildlife photographer means that going on safari is not something new for me. However, this time, as Will drove me through the main gate into the national park in our own vehicle it felt very different and exciting.

Read on…