Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. This article was originally published on Jan 22, 2016.
Around the world, 400 million people lack basic health care. It's a staggering statistic, but numbers can only do so much to illustrate what it's like to wait for help that doesn't come. This is why the Waiting for Health Project called on 12 photographers in 12 countries to document the stories of a handful of those 400 million, "to break through the noise and put humanity back at the centre of the conversation," as the project states .
Like today's global healthcare landscape, the photo series — an initiative of the 715-partner, The-Rockefeller-Foundation -supported Universal Health Coverage Coalition — offers reasons for both despair and hope. Photographer Sim Chi Yin chronicles the suffering of He Quangui, who attempted suicide to escape the pain of black lung disease contracted over years of toiling in unregulated Chinese gold mines. Thomas De Cian bears witness to Cambodia's progress toward health coverage for all. Martina Bacigalupo captures the delivery of a life-saving blood transfusion to a Burundian baby stricken by malaria, while Yoppy Pieter documents the death of an Indonesian boy whose lung collapsed due to vaccine-preventable infection.
"I really hope that this series makes people stop, just for one second, to consider the kind of access they have to medical care — and good medical care at that," photographer Sam Reinders, who took the series' photo of a young girl waiting in line at a Nepalese clinic, tells Refinery29. "Sitting in a plush doctor's room, air-conditioned, copies of glossy magazines easing the wait and an insurance company that will be picking up the bill (or at least a large portion of it) is something that should not be taken for granted." Of course, this rosy picture of healthcare access is far from a reality for all Americans, as Radhika Chalasani's photo of cash-strapped seniors who have crossed over the U.S. border into Mexico for more affordable health care attests.
"Health issues are a priority throughout the world — in particular in developing countries and among the poorest populations," adds Noriko Hayashi, who contributed a photo of her mother, who has health issues herself, caring for her ailing grandmother in Japan. "But they have become a pressing issue in developed societies as well, as is the case with Japan: 520,000 seniors are on waiting lists for nursing. It was really hard to find a nursing home for my grandmother, so this reality touches me personally."
Click through to view all 12 photos from Waiting for Health , alongside captions from the project. Together, they represent the urgency of the need for universal health coverage not just in name, but in practice, and not just in poor countries, but around the world.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Indonesia
"Gilang holds an x-ray of his right lung, damaged as a result of Bronchiectasis — a condition when airways are so damaged they no longer clear out bacteria, often leading to repeated and serious lung infections."
"In Indonesia, Bronchiectasis is often not diagnosed or treated in a timely manner. Gilang waited through four medical examinations before his Bronchiectasis was identified, along with its likely source: an extended and untreated Tuberculosis infection."
"Antibiotic therapy and physiotherapy brought no help for young Gilang. Six months after this photo was taken, his right lung collapsed. To prevent infection from spreading to his left lung, his right lung was surgically removed."
"Sadly, his battle came to an end three days later."
Photo: Courtesy of Yoppy Pieter. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Norway
"More than 30,000 refugees have so far crossed the Norwegian border in 2015. Asylum centres across the country are now overcrowded."
"Wahid Mohammad Mustafa Alkarami, 45, and his children Mohammed, 17, Haitham, 15, Oday, 13, and Taghred, 9, fled from their home in Benghazi and the civil war in Libya last year. Wahid lost his job as an engineer when his workplace was bombed in 2011. In April 2013, his wife, Nejla Elsatsai, was diagnosed with aggressive liver cancer. Due to a shortage of medical institutions in Libya, Wahid took his wife to treatment in Tunisia every other week for nine months. Sadly, Nejla passed away at the end of 2013."
Photo: Courtesy Of Anne-Stine Johnsbråten. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Guinea
"Nana Camara, 48, waits to see the nurse at La Clinic Cabinet Medical in the Nongo neighbourhood of Guinea’s capital, Conakry. Camara has been suffering from malaria for four days, but had been unable to come to the clinic sooner due to lack of funds."
"Instead, she endured the fever at home, relying only on Paracetamol from her local pharmacy, until one of her nine children was able to borrow enough money from his employer to cover the medical costs."
"Many Guineans simply cannot afford to pay for medicines or treatment, as well as the costs of transportation to access their local clinics, leaving many of the country’s health centres largely empty most of the time."
Photo: Courtesy of Aurélie Marrier d'Unienville. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Burundi
"Mama Fidès sits beside her son, who is 11 months old, and suffering from high fever and anaemia caused by severe malaria. The child needs a blood transfusion that is not available at Kirundo Hospital. Mama Fidès waits and hopes it will come soon enough."
"In this case, they were lucky: the blood transfusion arrived during the night. The following day, the doctors told Mama Fidès that her son was almost ready to go home."
Photo: Courtesy of Martina Bacigalupo/Médecins Sans Frontières. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Japan
"A woman takes care of her mother, who is waiting to enter a nursing home."
"She is not alone. Approximately 520,000 seniors are on waiting lists for nursing homes in Japan. As the country's elderly population continues to grow (people age 65 and older currently represent 25% of population) and as the government continues to scale back funding for nursing homes and staff, working-age children are increasingly feeling the pressure..."
"By 2025, Japan will need 2.5 million caregivers. By 2060, senior citizens will represent 40% of the population."
Photo: Courtesy of Noriko Hayashi. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. U.S. and Mexico
"American seniors seeking more affordable healthcare in Mexico."
"The high cost of medical care in the U.S. is a growing concern to millions of Americans, especially seniors. U.S. Customs estimates that 10 million Americans bring home medications from across the border each year, either from Mexico or Canada."
"During the peak winter season when seniors and retirees flock to Arizona by the thousands, many also make the short trek across the border to Mexico for cheaper pharmaceuticals and significantly less expensive medical care."
"Los Algodones is a small Mexican town on the U.S./Mexico border. It caters to the market-driven north-south migration of American seniors seeking relief from the high cost of medical services and rising prescription drug prices. Los Algodones was once a tiny single industry town, relying solely on its cotton yields. Today, it is a boomtown with more than 200 doctors, dentists, and pharmacies, all catering to their neighbours from the north."
Photo: Courtesy of Radhika Chalasani. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Brazil
"A mother and her 1-year-old baby with skin ulcers wait for medical care in a public hospital in the rural area of Palmares city in Pernambuco State, northeastern Brazil."
"In the '70s, Brazil had a segregated health system: the rich and salaried workers had access to private hospitals in urban settings, whereas limited public services existed for the poor and unemployed."
"Now, health is a constitutional right in Brazil. The country established a unified health system for all citizens in 1988, with the principles of universalism, equity, integration, and democracy."
"But promising health for all is not the same as achieving it. While health outcomes have improved across the population since the unified health system was adopted, persistent corruption and inequity mean that the the poorest communities still face tremendous barriers to accessing the same quality health services as the rich."
Photo: Courtesy of Ricardo Funari. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Nepal
"A young girl waits in one of several seemingly endless queues at a clinic in Sindhuli district in Nepal. This specific clinic, set up by an international NGO for the day, was one of many of its kind operational after April 25th’s devastating earthquake in the country."
"After a long walk to the clinic the queuing starts; first to register and receive their patient form, then to see the doctor, then to get any medication prescribed. The outing can last a full day, and despite tarps being erected to shade the crowds, the excessive heat still took its toll. These were the lucky few."
Photo: Courtesy of Sam Reinders. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. India
"Early in the morning, outside a primary health care center in Bihar, patients queue up to receive a token from the attendant. The center, which serves around 200,000 patients in the region, only has one doctor and two junior doctors. Everything depends on whether the doctors actually show up — and for the patients, arriving early rarely makes any difference."
"Once inside, the conditions of the primary health care centre are poor. Used syringes are disposed of in the sink."
Photo: Courtesy of Siddharth Jain/Action Aid Bihar. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. China
"After collapsing twice in one day, Chinese gold miner He Quangui is struggling to breathe, gripping the bed, and his son He Jinbo's thigh, while his wife, Mi Shixiu, holds him, crying. He eventually recovers his breath. But in the early hours of the next morning, he attempted suicide to end the suffering."
"For 10 years, Quangui battled silicosis: an irreversible but preventable disease he contracted from years of working in small, unregulated gold mines in the Henan province of central China. This illness is a type of pneumoconiosis (or "black lung" disease), which is China's most prevalent occupational disease, afflicting millions. Silica dust sucked into the lungs during years of blasting rock causes the miner's lungs to harden and eventually fail..."
"Quangui died 1 August 2015."
Photo: Courtesy of Sim Chi Yin/VII. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Cambodia
"In the rural province of Siem Reap, a woman waits with two children for a routine prenatal visit under a joint scheme between the local government health centres and an NGO-funded hospital."
"The fact that visits to the doctor can be 'routine' is a sign of Cambodia's progress toward universal health coverage — reaching everyone with essential health services without causing financial hardship."
"However, many people in Cambodia are not so lucky. For example, there is only one hospital in the country that offers any form of mental health services."
Photo: Courtesy of Thomas De Cian. Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Myanmar
"Muzammil, 37, is comforted from his pains by his stepmother while waiting outside a pharmacy for the pharmacist to arrive. Incredibly poor sanitation in the area make deaths from diarrhoea and stomach infections all too common."
"Others watch them, early in the morning in an internally displaced persons camp for Rohingya people on the outskirts of Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. With virtually no doctors around, pharmacists are the only people treating diseases and injuries. There is a government-run hospital, but it is semi-operational, and the Rohingya don't trust it."
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