So most of our family members are worried about our health. It is true that there are plenty of diseases here in West Africa, however the Peace Corps does a very good job of equipping us to protect ourselves.
For any illnesses that we have we can call one of the Peace Corps nurses for advice and/or help. Some volunteers do get seriously ill and some also die but it is almost always the case that they are ignoring the advice of Peace Corps Medical. For example there have been volunteers die from malaria but in all cases they were not taking their malaria prophylaxis as prescribed.
Though Peace Corps service does entail certain risks if you follow medical advice, use a little common sense, and get help when needed you should be fine. Thats not to say you will not get sick, you will. Most likely it will be stomach illness. I hope to include more information on the illnesses you will encounter and how we keep healthy.
Here are a few pics: the first one is of my pill box. The prophylaxis lariam is what I take once a week on monday. The second is of a mosquito net that we all sleep under.
