Kalunga,

My interest in the medical side has been out of necessity, and not because I have formal medical training. When my wife and I drove by ourselves from Norway to RSA for a year, thru 20 African countries, we had no choice but to brush up on things so we could take care of most potential health problems underway by ourselves. In many regions we were very far from any kind of help for long periods of time, and thus had to be as self sufficient as possible. I have a fair bit of medic and first aid training from the military, which was helpful in some regards, but the great thing with "Where there is no doctor" is that besides describing all kinds of procedures in detail (from childbirth to drug dosages), it's written in a fashion that most people can easily understand. It's made for health workers and medical personnel who are working far off the beaten track in Africa, so it take also into consideration what resources are most likely availible. It uses a lot of illustrations, so if you need for example to establish what kind of intestinal worms you have contracted, all you have to do is flip thru the books parasite pictures till you find the right one, and a choice of recommended drugs and dosages. Which I know because that's exactly what we had to do once...

I know they used to make a version for Asia and South America earlier, but I am not sure if they still do this. The African version naturally has the specific African diseases and problems etc.

I doubt most tourist hunters would have much use for a lot of the things in the book, but there is actually quite a bit that can come in handy in daily life for that matter. So I have no problem recommending it to people who are a little more than casually interested in being able to take care of themselves or others.

With that said, I've not always been impressed with the medical knowledge of PHs I've met (and African doctors for that sake!), and am glad I've studied up a bit myself. I don't like having to rely blindly on others (who might be lacking in knowledge), and therefore prefer to be able to take care of myself as much as possible in most situations that may arise. As long as it isn't brain surgery!

Erik