{"id":452,"date":"2023-02-06T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.medi-for-help.com\/en\/?p=452"},"modified":"2024-01-15T11:47:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T10:47:36","slug":"together-with-hasa-in-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.medi-for-help.com\/en\/news-and-updates\/together-with-hasa-in-rwanda\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the East African country of Rwanda with our new partner organisation Heart and Sole Africa (HASA)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The medi for help team embarked on an exploratory trip to Rwanda in early November 2022 together with our partner organisation Heart and Sole Africa (HASA) to help people with podoconiosis. The chronic tropical disease is considered a non-contagious type of elephantiasis and is also known as non-filarial lymphoedema. Symptoms include extreme fatigue, bilateral swelling of the legs with asymmetric expression, discolouration of the skin and nodular growth on the toes and feet.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n In the northern province of Rwanda, podoconiosis (podo) is mainly caused by high concentrations of silicic acid in the soil. People who walk barefoot on the volcanic clay soil are particularly affected. A large number of those affected are therefore small farmers who work in the fields without shoes and are thus chronically exposed to the silicates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n As the majority of the work here is done by women, many girls and mothers are also affected. About 6,500 people are affected by podo in Rwanda, and health care providers for these particular patients are scarce or non-existent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>