Where There Is No Doctor [Paperback]

David Werner (Author), Jane Maxwell (Author), Carol Thuman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 1992

Hesperian's classic manual, Where There Is No Doctor, is perhaps the most widely-used health care manual in the world.

Useful for health workers, clinicians, and others involved in primary health care delivery and health promotion programs, with millions of copies in print in more than 75 languages, the manual provides practical, easily understood information on how to diagnose, treat, and prevent common diseases. Special attention is focused on mutrition, infection and disease prevention, and diagnostic techniques as primary ways to prevent and treat health problems.

This 2010 reprint features updated medicines, plus information on tuberculosis and HIV, including guidelines for anti-retroviral therapy and preventing HIV in babies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Hesperian Foundation has been selling (this) Third World medical manual at a brisk pace for more than 25 years....(This) classic public-health text has meant survival for thousands in the Third World since the early 1970s, according to officials from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Peace Corps. ...it stands as arguably the most widely use public-health manual in the world, according to WHO. ...WHO officials noted that since 1978, it, too, has adopted the kind of community-based approach to health care exemplified by (Where There Is No Doctor). Both WHO and UNICEF now buy (the book) for their field offices... ----Monica Eng, Chicago Tribune

I consider Where There Is No Doctor my health bible. I carry it with me on every trip I take, and refer to it often. The information provided in this book is simple, straight forward, and easy to read. I would highly recommend that any person planning to serve overseas have a personal copy for reference. ----Anita Good, Mennonite Central Committee, Honduras



Home health care manuals are a dime a dozen, but this one is in a league by itself... This amazing manual...successfully brings together modern concepts of public health and personal health care into a usable and understandable format for the Third World villager. If you are a physician, dentist or nurse planning to volunteer on a medical mercy mission, review this book ahead of time and take it with you. --Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 125, no.12

I consider Where There Is No Doctor my health bible. I carry it with me on every trip I take, and refer to it often. The information provided in this book is simple, straight forward, and easy to read. I would highly recommend that any person planning to serve overseas have a personal copy for reference. ----Anita Good, Mennonite Central Committee, Honduras



Home health care manuals are a dime a dozen, but this one is in a league by itself... This amazing manual...successfully brings together modern concepts of public health and personal health care into a usable and understandable format for the Third World villager. If you are a physician, dentist or nurse planning to volunteer on a medical mercy mission, review this book ahead of time and take it with you. ---- Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 125, no.12

Product Details

• Paperback: 446 pages
• Publisher: Hesperian Foundation; Revised edition (May 25, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942364155
• ISBN-13: 978-0942364156
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Rural
  • #1 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Reference
  • #1 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Rural Health

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

192 of 195 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable outside Europe and North America May 11, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

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 "those who live far from medical centers, in places where there is doctor". However there is plenty of information which *is relevant* to a North American audience, particularly the section on nutrition. Anyone backpacking or camping in the more remote regions of the US would benefit from taking this a long.

120 of 122 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overall coverage. December 15, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

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 the work these people do.

140 of 144 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Life Saver!!!!! January 20, 2004

By Manuel Hernandez

Format:Paperback

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.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone working in international development August 8, 2001

By Stephanie Lindquist

Format:Paperback

This book is amazing! I worked in Guatemala for around 8 months in community development, with a rural indigenous pueblo. We tried to get in as many doctors as possible, but when that failed, we could always use this book--the diagrams of each disease (especially the skin diseases, prevalent in Central America) helped us to decide how to address each person's health concerns. I only wish there was a copy in K'iche' for the community leaders to have to use!

The forms included in the book for basic check ups and keeping medical records will be helpful in the future when we set up a clinic. I can't emphasize what a straight forward, useful, and practical book this is. If you intend to work anywhere in a developing country, with health or not, you need this book.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook November 18, 2007

By S. Steele

Format:Paperback

This book was designed for primitive health care. It isn't set up to turn the layman into a surgeon.
For what it is; it does an excellent job. A huge block of it has little use here in the states, but there is at least one good tip on every page. Once you move past the political and socioeconomic points, it's a wonderful learning tool.

One thing that is often over looked; Hesperian the publisher distributes this and countless other books for FREE. Their whole philosophy is medicine should be cheap or free and is a world wide entitlement not a privilege.
HINT, HINT go to Hesperian.org and while your at it Google "Ships Captains Medical Guide." This is also a free down load and packed full of good info.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't leave home without it! June 23, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are the kind of person who would travel the third world by bus, then this book is for you. Five star hotel types need not apply.

I found this book useful in diagnosing and treating tropical diseases like parasites, malaria and hepatitis-A. Bubbles in the stool, blood and mucus, how do you sort these tell tale signs out. "Where There Is No Doctor" helps you do this. I even used it to diagnose a case of celebral meningitis and saved the kids life by getting him to the nearest hospital which was 100 miles away. His parents thought it was a case of possession.

The information on drugs and doses is also useful, especially in situtations where prescription drugs, heaven forbid, can be bought without a prescription. But then again, that's where you use this book -- Where there is no Doctor. Don't leave home without it.