Health & Healthcare

The experience of navigating health and health-care captures both the adventure and the mundane realities of everyday existence overseas with USAID. Mystery ailments and emergency room visits feel very different in unfamiliar languages and cultures. But regular checkups and annual visits need to happen all the same. Nearly every U.S. Embassy overseas has an in-house clinic called a Health Unit, where a diplomat’s medical journey usually starts. The Health Unit provides basic services like prescriptions and immunizations. They also offer support in navigating the country’s hospitals and doctors for more advanced care. The Embassy’s small medical team, often an American nurse-practitioner plus a handful of local nurses, also managed urgent medical evacuations – called “medevacs” – when needed. Sometimes a medevac would take the patient back to the USA. But more frequently a diplomat, or their family member, went to the nearest place that offered the right care, often in a regional hub like Thailand, South Africa, or the UK. Life with USAID meant living in places without state-of-the-art medicine, and often without great options for healthy food and water, especially outside the capital city. And so, fair warning, listener: there is some gross stuff in this episode. Folks who served overseas with USAID have seen more than their share of worms, malaria, and… digestive distress. If you have a story of health and health-care overseas with USAID, I’d love to hear it. Send me a message or a voice note at www.itwasneverajob.com.