Pins and Needles

T minus 148

A trip to the local MASTA clinic is on the agenda today for the whole family. For those who have not been this is a Tropical Diseases Health Clinic and we have come for our initial meeting and immunisation injections. Luckily for me I had a number last year when I went to the Far East (read more here) Even so this is an expensive trip.

On the menu today it’s a Hepatitis B booster for me and a Rabies booster for Anita. Apart from me, everyone else is getting a Yellow Fever jab, and we’re all getting Meningitis ACWY. In the coming months the others are going to need protection from Hep B, the kids Rabies and Tuberculosis too. All of us are also probably going to get protection from Cholera.

It’s a long list and a costly one but absolutely has to be done.

It is easy to forget how protected we are in the West – from bugs and diseases. We live our lives in a protective shell brought about by decades of investment and developments. We might moan about the NHS but life in the developing world for the sick and invalid is not easy. Sanitation and health care is inadequate. Whilst we will have health insurance we will need to take precautions.

So tonight we’re feeling like pincushions!