Pedia­tric uro­lo­gy

Con­ge­ni­tal mal­for­ma­ti­ons of the uri­na­ry and geni­tal tract, kid­ney stone dise­a­se, blad­der dis­or­ders, unde­s­cen­ded tes­tes or mal­for­ma­ti­ons of the penis are the main tasks of the paed­ia­tric uro­lo­gy team. Twice a year, the ARCHEMED team tra­vels to Asma­ra; on avera­ge, almost 200 child­ren are exami­ned per mis­si­on and more than 40 under­go sur­gery.

At the start of their mis­si­ons, the paed­ia­tric uro­lo­gists deter­mi­ne whe­ther a child should be trea­ted con­ser­va­tively or sur­gi­cal­ly. Abo­ve all, they car­ry out pro­ce­du­res that, until now, were not pos­si­ble due to the lack of spe­cia­li­sed spe­cia­lists. Many child­ren have, for exam­p­le, pro­blems with uri­na­ry con­ti­nence, ran­ging all the way to uncon­trol­led uri­ne loss due to an expo­sed blad­der in child­ren. The­se wet and extre­me­ly unp­lea­sant-smel­ling child­ren have no future in Eritrea, becau­se anyo­ne who “stinks” is excluded from atten­ding school. This means, in turn, no chan­ce of fur­ther edu­ca­ti­on, no pos­si­bi­li­ty of lea­ding a nor­mal social and rela­ti­onship life – a life of mere exis­tence on the mar­gins of socie­ty is pre-pro­grammed.