Summary of article in Billed Bladet #48, 2016.
Written by Ulrik Ulriksen.
As patron for the European region of WHO, Mary went to Moldova, which is one of the most poor and backward (let alone forgotten) parts of Europe.
As such the healthcare system in that country is very poor. Things like measles and polio are real dangers!
This visit was therefore very much about the vaccination-programmes in Moldova. (While it has been fashionable for some in the West to gamble with their children's health by deciding to do without vaccinations, Moldova is an example of what happened in pre-vaccination Europe).
WHO has helped Moldova in getting the vaccination programme up and running. (The country have had problems finding and funding the resources for carrying out vaccinations).
Mary said to Moldovian TV: "My children er vaccinated, just as I am. Every child has a right to be vaccinated and I would never risk my child catching a decease that could have been avoided with vaccination. It's not a risk worth taking".
Mary said to our reporter: "It's been a good programme. We have experienced and seen much during the few days we've been here. We've been given a good impression of how the healthcare sector here looks like today and what their plans are for the future, but there is much to do. It takes a lot of effort but they do that with the help of WHO and other international organizations.
It's a country that is developing, but it takes time and it needs investments in a country full of contrasts. (The country is a mix of Moldovians, Rumanians, Russians and Ukrainians!) We have right now experienced a simulation-center and a health-clinic with a high standard internationally speaking, but it may be something different out in the countryside (yep, fake vaccinations, diluted vaccinations, people having to pay for vaccinations and incompetent medical personnel) away from the big cities. So there is a long way to go, but there is a lot of will and actions are taken in order to create a robust healthcare system and heighten the quality of life and cure the public in general.
I've only been here for a short while but I have already been given a very positive impression of the country. I've been received with warmth and generous hospitality. It's very touching.
The visit is of course focused on the the serious issues regarding the healthcare sector in Moldova. it's been uplifting to see the co-operation there is between the Minister of Health in Moldova and WHO".
Mary was accompanied by chief of WHO (Europe), Zsuzsanna Jakab, who praised Mary for help putting focus on the need for vaccinations, because many in Moldova, especially in poor rural district are against vaccinations, partly because of the reasons I mentioned above, but also because of deep distrust of the authorities and because many have reverted back to advise by "wise women" and traditional "folklore-treatment".
Because of the need to get the message through and because Moldova don't get foreign visitors of any particular standing every day..., the visit was covered massively by Moldovian media.
As part of the visit, Mary visited a children's health clinic, where personnel practiced on dolls, in regards to how to carry out basic examinations and give vaccinations. (*)
And here she saw a vaccination on one year old Ecaterina, who held on to Mary's finger.
Mary was also made an honorary doctor at the medical faculty in the Moldovian capital of Chisinau.
The traditional square hat was placed on Mary's head by a local girl wearing a Moldovian local costume.
But of course Moldova as a country wasn't only delighted by Mary's pretty brown eyes, she was drafted in to help promoting Moldovian export as well.
As such the visit ended at a wine-chateau, Castel Mimi. The purpose of course being to promote Modovian wine and cuisine. Here Mary visited the cellars holding barrels of wine going back to the 1700's.
The cellars are actually previous mines with corridors stretching for kilometers and to get around you drive in cars, with the same rules for driving on roads on the surface, or go by mini-train.
Both Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin have stored wine in these corridors.
See for yourself here:
BB48, 2016
(*) We went through a similar basic training before deployed to Croatia in the 90's. Because doctors and nurses there had either fled or been drafted and the few remaining were overworked and stayed at the hospitals in the cities. So we medics from the UN-Peacekeepers on our patrols were more often than not the only thing resembling healthcare personnel.
We were actually not supposed to, because somewhere up in the UN-system someone, in their infinite wisdom, had decided that that would be interfering... But since even Red Cross convoys and cars were regularly fired on, there were no one else.
For those interested in last weeks issue, see here:
BB47, 2016
And well deserved, Mary.
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