Emmanuel Dominic Laku, Medical officer, Walag’lang Primary Care Health Clinic, Central Equatoria, South Sudan.

8 December 2014

2 min read

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    <span>Emmanuel Dominic Laku, Medical officer, Walag’lang Primary Care Health Clinic, Central Equatoria, South Sudan.</span>
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      <b>8 
        December
         2014</b>
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									<p>I am in charge of this clinic in this village close to Juba, our nation’s capital. In fact, there is only me here, I have no nurses or assistants, and there are many, many people in the surrounding villages who rely on this facility for all their health requirements. This means in one day I can be called on to help with everything from a snake bite to malaria to a broken arm or bad diarrhoea.</p>
<p>We are quite well-equipped here. I have a fridge which runs from kerosene, although sometimes we have no replenishments of fuel because vehicles cannot pass on the roads to bring it here. Also thanks to Gavi and the government, we have supplies of vaccines, including the new Pentavalent, which was only launched in South Sudan in July, and already we had supplies. You know, most clinics in this country struggle more than we do.</p>
<p>Giving vaccinations, for me, is very rewarding. The child is not sick, so it is not in pain already. And I know that what I am doing with that vaccine will prevent pain or even death in the future. We can only appeal that those who are supporting us continue to help.</p>
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<p><em>Photo: Gavi/ Mike Pflanz</em></p>
<p><img id="portrait" src="http://gaviweb.org/vaccineswork/vaccine-portraits-icon.gif" alt="image" loading="lazy"></p>
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  <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/emmanuel-dominic-laku-medical-officer-walaglang">Original article</a>
</p><p>This article was originally published on
  <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork">VaccinesWork</a>
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I am in charge of this clinic in this village close to Juba, our nation’s capital. In fact, there is only me here, I have no nurses or assistants, and there are many, many people in the surrounding villages who rely on this facility for all their health requirements. This means in one day I can be called on to help with everything from a snake bite to malaria to a broken arm or bad diarrhoea.

We are quite well-equipped here. I have a fridge which runs from kerosene, although sometimes we have no replenishments of fuel because vehicles cannot pass on the roads to bring it here. Also thanks to Gavi and the government, we have supplies of vaccines, including the new Pentavalent, which was only launched in South Sudan in July, and already we had supplies. You know, most clinics in this country struggle more than we do.

Giving vaccinations, for me, is very rewarding. The child is not sick, so it is not in pain already. And I know that what I am doing with that vaccine will prevent pain or even death in the future. We can only appeal that those who are supporting us continue to help.

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Photo: Gavi/ Mike Pflanz