Abstract

PIP: A physician records, in this article, his experiences as a physician in the Cambodian refugee camp Khao-I-Dang in Thailand. The background to these camps is briefly presented and Dr. Levy also records some personal observations about certain individuals with whom he became acquainted. While the health facilities were not what one could expect to find in the U.S., the health personnel got on quite well. 80-100 patients were seen each day with a median age/patient of 15. Infectious diseases were seen in 3/4 of the individuals examined. The effects of kwashiorkor and chronic undernutrition were seen as were the effects of various vitamin deficiencies. However, malnutrition among children, which was 15% at the end of 1979, had been reduced to 1% by February 1980. The most dramatic result of the camp's existence was the sharp decline in the death rate. Measures of preventive medicine practiced proved quite beneficial. Public health epidemiologic activities consisted of surveillance, investigation of disease outbreaks, and control measures. Family planning, especially with injectable contraceptives, was another public health measure. The greatest impact of all, however, was in the educational activities of Cambodian health personnel. There was an ongoing in-service training for Cambodian physicians, translators, and helpers, a 3-month nursing program, and a course in communicable disease control for 60 Cambodian public health workers.