Saint Camille

Today was the first day that I went to go and visit Saint Camille, which is an Italian catholic hospital in Ouagadougou. I pass it everyday to get to work, and it is the closest hospital for the women at AEM so I went there to check it out and talk to some doctors. We also got to watch the women I work with at AEM in action. Mirabelle and I were in the hospital before the doors opened. I should say that the hospital is in a completely different format that what we would be used to. The buildings are separated on a compound so you have to walk outside between each of them and none of the buildings are more than one story high. The area we went to was reserved only for women who were either pregnant or had children. Before the hospital opened, when we arrived, we found groups of women waiting on either side of the front door. To the left were the swollen bellied women, about to give birth, while on the right were the women with their small infants. There were cement like bleachers to sit and wait for the hospital to open tucked away from the sun. Mothers nursed their babies or gave them bags of water to keep quiet. It was a waiting room but outside. Women kept their places in line by putting their medical charts in a line next to the door. Here, people carry their charts with them. I’ve never waited for a doctor while sitting outside but it was quite nice.

Every Monday and Friday morning the women from AEM come to give a lecture to the women who arrived that morning in the waiting room about sensibilization. They talk about HIV, how to contract it, how to get tested, and for pregnant women its free. They also tell the women that in order to protect their baby they need to know their status. The pregnant women in the room don’t know that the women talking are HIV positive but some are visibly uncomfortable talking about HIV, although some have even more questions. The hospital’s midwife is also there, Mirabelle and I watch in the waiting room the whole discussion surrounded by round bulging bellies of the women around us. In Burkina Faso it is tradition to bury your placenta, so the midwife tells the women that the placenta is to be put in a plastic bag after the birth, and to not take it out but bury it with the bag. This is to prevent transmission if the mother has HIV to whomever does the burying. They also emphasize that you can’t get HIV from giving birth at the hospital since everything is sterilized. Women are also required to bring two plastic sheets to put on the exam tables during their birth, as well as two buckets to put the bloody clothes in afterwards. It took about 30 minutes to discuss how to protect yourself from HIV and why they should test themselves and some women asked questions afterwards. When we left there were about five of the twenty pregnant women willing to get tested. The midwife says sometimes there are only two women and sometimes there are forty it just all depends on the day. In Burkina you can get tested and have your results in 20 minutes.

The placenta in Burkina Faso is always buried at the house where the father lives because it is meant to represent that the child comes from this house.

After the talk I went to meet with one of the doctors who works especially with HIV patients, although her office is mixed in with those of all different types of doctors so that the HIV patients do not get ostracized. I have an interview with both the midwife and the doctor on Monday.