I am traveling in Nairobi, Kenya this week. My family and I are partcipating in a mission trip involving children of prisoners.
The average age of death in Kenya is 48. As I toured the cityand visited a church, I noticed very few elderly people. I feel it is reasonable to conclude that the Kenyans just don’t live that long.
Yesterday, I enjoyed a lengthy discussion with a very pleasant Ministry of Health official. Their health system faces challenges very different from ours. They have no hospice benefit, nor are there proposals regarding hospice at this time. Although they have instituted broad vaccination for endemic diseases, they are quite concerned with the coming Swine Flu. Because of a lack of medication, misinformation about disease transfer, and no H1N1 vaccine, Swine Flu could inflict widespread sickness and mortality.
Their shortened lifespans can be explained partly by the childhood deaths. Sadly, I treated a boy suffering from late-stage malaria. He died yesterday.
That we are fortunate in the U.S. is perpetually reinforced during my journey in Kenya. Our hospice benefit is a blessing we shouldn’t accept blithely or feel we are obligated to have.
Mark Twain said that travel is fatal to bigotry and narrowmindedness. I bet all of us would thank God more for our health and our health care if we saw how other people live. Thank you for reminding us of that and for helping those people.