Where There Is No Doctor

 (93 customer reviews)

When we visit my wife's village in Ghana, this is almost the first thing that we pack. Anyone travelling to the less developed parts of the world should take a copy - and leave it there with someone who can use it. This is probably the most widely used medical reference book in the world - it has been translated into 80 languages. Its simple language, clear explanations and illustrations make essential medical knowledge accessible to anyone with basic literacy. The diagnostic charts are very straightforward and make it easy for a lay person to distinguish between diseases which can be easily confused. The treatments described are completely appropriate for village conditions. There is considerable emphasis on preventative health care and on health education. Anyone familiar with village life in underdeveloped countries will acknowledge that this book is an extraordinary achievement. For those who complain that it is not relevant to the United States: the book was written for...Read more

This book does an excellent job of doing exactly what it promises to go: give the average, medically untrained person a good sense of how to look at a health care situation and respond to it intelligently.I have been active training people in wilderness emergency care for some years now, and this is one of the books that I always recommend.When a friend of mine went to live in Russia (in the Siberia area) I recommended that he take along a paramedic manual and this book. Both books served him well, but he referred to this book much more often.Overall, for a person who is going to be in a medically isolated area and/or in an area where the general level of health knowledge is low, this is an absolutely outstanding book.This company also published "Where There Is No Dentist" and "The Village Midwife." Both are excellent. They recently came out with another great book titled "Where Women Have No Doctor." I really like and respect...Read more

This book is written in very easy to read english. Which is part of its value. Not being in the medical field and if I had to deliver a baby in the bush in Africa I want the book to be written as simply as possible. The drawings are a bit better than stick men but they get the point across. My wife and I lived in West Africa and quite often in the bush. Places where you do not find a doctor and the hospitals are less than our American medicine cabinets. This book has helped through malaria; yellow fever; insect bites; dehydration; water purification; etc. These were areas that we truly faced and the book took us through. Yes, we survived!! If you know anyone in the 3rd. world, do them a great service and get them this book. No missionary or business men to the 3rd. world have any business leaving without this book.