Photos from Tajikistan 2007
Oct. 24: On the way from the United States to Tajikistan, some members of the Physicians With Heart delegation had a few hours to sightsee when they changed planes in Istanbul, Turkey. Gwen Young took a snapshot of the Hagia Sophia, which was constructed in 537 and was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly 1,000 years.
Oct. 24: Physicians With Heart delegates gaze up at the massive dome of Hagia Sophia. The building was used as a mosque after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and is now a museum.
Oct. 25: The Physicians With Heart delegation arrived in Tajikistan at 3 a.m. today, after one-and-a-half days of continuous travel. They were met in Dushanbe by an advance team from the project that had arrived in the capital city several days earlier. Here, Alexander Ivanov (center), AAFP International Activities Manager, and Dr. Richard Bruehlman (right), medical education coordinator for this year's project, greet newly arrived delegates, including Dr. Erin Marti (left), during a lunch orientation meeting.
Oct. 25: Dr. Phil Simmons, a British family physician who has lived in Tajikistan for several years, speaks to doctors with the Physicians With Heart delegation about the condition of the health care system in this poor central Asian nation. One of the startling facts that Dr. Simmons pointed out is that Tajikistan has experienced a hundredfold reduction in health care funding since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Oct. 26: Instructors for the ALSO (Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics) course prepare for their first class at Maternity House #3 in Dushanbe. From left to right are Dr. Rick Edwards, Dr. Robert Langan, Dr. Jerry Potts and Dr. Carl Olden. Other ALSO instructors in Dushanbe for the course are Dr. Barbara Estment and Dr. Vernon Johnson. Thirty Tajik doctors participated in the class.
Oct. 26: A nurse distributes medications to patients at Tursunzade Central District Hospital in western Tajikistan. The hospital was one of the health care facilities that received donated pharmaceuticals from the Physicians With Heart project.
Oct. 27: Dr. Daniel Ostergaard (right), AAFP vice president for international and interprofessional activities, points to the logos of the Physicians With Heart project and its sponsoring organizations during a family medicine educational symposium in Tursunzade. AAFP Past President Dr. Larry Fields (far left) and Dr. Jerry Rogers (left center) represented the AAFP and the AAFP Foundation. The third sponsoring organization is Heart to Heart International, a humanitarian organization headquartered in Olathe, Kan.
Oct. 27: Tajik doctors practice with an otoscope during a family medicine educational symposium in Tursunzade that was sponsored by Physicians With Heart. The otoscopes for the project were donated by Welch Allyn.
Oct. 28: The Physicians With Heart delegation had a day of rest on Sunday. One group traveled north of Dushanbe to view mountain scenery such as this. A second group spent the afternoon shopping, while a third group watched Tajikistan beat Bangladesh, 5-0, in a World Cup soccer match.
Oct. 28: A Tajik girl and woman greet a small group from the Physicians With Heart delegation who stopped in their village to take photographs.
Oct. 29: A Tajik man rides a donkey in the Vaksh Valley near the Afghanistan border. The Children's Project team for Physicians With Heart traveled through the area today.
Oct. 29: Children at the Vaksh Boarding School greet the Physicians With Heart team and other visitors at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of a new shower room at their school. In addition to the new showers for the boarding school, the children received blankets, clothing and other donations from the Physicians With Heart project.
Oct. 30: Dr. Larry Fields addresses the audience on behalf of the AAFP during a family medicine educational symposium at the Tajikistan State Medical University in Dushanbe.
Oct. 30: Tajik doctors practice with mannequins during an ALSO Instructor Course at Maternity House #3 in Dushanbe.
Oct. 30: Ruth Ostergaard, chair of the Children's Project, watches as Lloyd Welker and workers at the Dushanbe Day Care Center assemble a wheelchair provided by Physicians With Heart for a disabled child.
Oct. 30: Judy Fields (top), Katy Fields and Lori Foley (bottom) paint a mural for children at the Dushanbe Day Care Center.
Oct. 31: Tracey Jacobson, U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan, and Jerry Oberndorfer, director of humanitarian programs for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Department of State, view some of the pharmaceuticals brought to Tajikistan by the Physicians With Heart project. They participated in a hand-over ceremony along with leaders of the Physicians With Heart project -- Dr. Larry Fields, Dr. Jerry Rogers and Dr. Gary Morsch.
Oct. 31: A worried mother watches over her seriously ill child at Vakhdat Central District Hospital, where the hand-over ceremony for the donated pharmaceuticals took place.
Oct. 31: The Physicians With Heart delegation pauses on their final night in Tajikistan for a group photo. Of the 35 people in this year's project delegation, 22 were physicians.
Tajikistan 2007
Photos from Tajikistan 2007
