[Theater nurse and midwife in Cameroon. Impressions and experiences in the grasslands (Northwest Cameroon) during a six-and-a-half month stay in a hospital situated at a height of 1800 m].
The author describes the circumstances of the hospital and out-of-hospital situation in the region she worked in, in focussing on the relevant practical features of the daily life of patients and staff. She deals among other things with the maternity ward (including the separate "camp" devoted to prenatal stays) and the operating theatre. As regards health activities outside the hospital, she mentions those of the existing health centres and of auxiliary personnel called first-aiders (whose job description is close to the one of the village health workers advocated by WHO and others). A health team, usually led by a physician, makes periodic visits to bush villages. The importance of the contacts thus created, for health work itself (including collaboration with traditional health practitioners) as well as for community development, is underlined.