Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook
Product ID: 221603
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Considered by the World Health Organization to be the most widely-used health care manual in the world, Where There Is No Doctor provides easy-to-understand information on how to identify, treat, and prevent many common health issues. Inside you'll find information on: examining and caring for sick people – how to check breathing, pulse, and temperature; identifying diseases based on fever patterns, watching for signs of dangerous illnesses, and when to go for medical help identifying and treating illnesses – recognizing common sicknesses including dehydration, cold and flu, asthma, allergic reactions, arthritis, and back pain, as well as serious illnesses like malaria, tuberculosis, tetanus, dengue, and typhoid fever sanitation and disease prevention – promoting good hygiene, step-by-step instructions to build a basic latrine, and prevention and treatment of intestinal parasites and worms first aid and wilderness medicine – how to treat minor injuries like small and large cuts and minor burns, and more serious injuries and conditions like drowning, broken bones, bullet or knife wounds, snakebites, and shock pregnancy and sexual health – staying healthy during pregnancy, preparing for birth, and delivering a baby; birth control methods; identifying, treating, and preventing sexually transmitted infections like HIV and syphilis medicines and home remedies – how and when to use medicines, how to tell if a home remedy is helpful or harmful, and an easy-to-reference index of medicines with uses, dosages, and precautions Heavily illustrated and written in plain language, this handbook emphasizes addressing the underlying causes of poor health and focuses on cleanliness, healthy diet, vaccinations, and appropriate, cautious use of medicines. Useful for health workers, educators, and others involved in primary care and health promotion, Where There Is No Doctor has been translated into over 75 languages around the world. This practical and trusted guide equips readers to protect and care for their own health, the health of their families and their communities, and helps identify which problems need the attention of an experienced health worker. The latest reprint (May 2025, 21st printing) includes current medication information such as updates on antibiotics and other medicines, and revised sections on night blindness and polio. About Hesperian Health Guides: Hesperian partners with health workers, community members, medical professionals, and others around the world to develop, publish, and share accurate health information. To help all people take greater control over their health, Hesperian’s books are written using plain, easy-to-understand language, feature plentiful illustrations and are regularly updated with the latest medical information.
| Dimensions | 6.75 x 1 x 9.75 inches |
| Edition | Second Edition, 21st Revised Printing (May 2025) |
| Isbn 10 | 0942364155 |
| Isbn 13 | 978-0942364156 |
| Item Weight | 1.65 pounds |
| Language | English |
| Print Length | 446 pages |
| Publication Date | January 1, 2020 |
| Publisher | Hesperian Health Guides |
User
Great medical guidebook
This medical guidebook should be in every library! It covers vital first aid, preventative health measures (like hygiene and nutrition), and an abundance of information on everything in between. The writing style is easy-to-read and the illustrations are clear. While this book is available for free digitally, it is nice to have a physical copy just in case.
User
Life Saver
If you work overseas in any "under developed" area or in mission work anywhere in the world (except US) you've got to have this book. I work in Africa and it has proven to be life-saving and eye-opening more times than I can count. Well researched, practical, well illustrated, smart, easily portable. Can't live without it.
User
Simply Amazing!
This is an amazing book! I have some medical training and a lot of home medical books but this one takes the cake. Almost all of the others are what to do until you can get professional help. But what if there are no professionals around and you are on your own, now what? This book fills the gap. This book is comprehensive and easy to understand with great illustrations. It even covers doses of common meds if you have them. This is a must buy especially if you think you could possibly be on your own and without professional medical help some day.
User
Helpful but not essential
Firstly, if what you are looking for is a medical field manual for a survivalist fleeing from some societal collapse, this is probably not the book you want. Go get Dr. Forgey's "Wilderness Medicine" instead (also reviewed by me). This is more of a tutorial for Peace Corps types who have found themselves posted to some back of beyond, 3rd World village where their job is to help the locals set up a basic medical delivery system. As such, it IS a great book for the would-be survivalist who wants to start prepping, with lots of info on things you might not have thought of, but it is not, with a few (albeit critical) exceptions, the book that is going to save you when you are bleeding to death in the woods. While it has some basic diagnostic and therapeutic guides and instructions, it is not well organized for instant access or maximized to help the person who finds him/herself suddenly confronted with a medical emergency beyond the reach of professional help. Moreover, the size and format of the book does not commend itself to being stuffed in a "Go Bag" and you'd be better advised to use the space saved to stick in some "Top Ramen" noodles (great survival food, btw) and a bottle of "One-A-Day" vitamins (preventative medicine, you know...).There IS, however, one reason to buy this book, which more than justifies the price. In the back of the book (among the green tabbed sections), there is probably the best, easiest to comprehend and use, jargon free/BS free guide to basic medications to be had. Forget those people urging you to buy the "Merck Manual" or the "Physicians' Desk Reference" (both of which are far too big, too technical, and too jargon laden to be of assistance to the average person). Get this book, instead, and rip out those pages and put 'em in a plastic bag for inclusion in your "Go Bag". Want to know what anti-biotic to use for a lung infection? Skin infection? Urinary tract infection? This has it. It also lists (clearly and plainly, without all the stuff the pharmaceutical companies' lawyers insist be put into most of these medication guides) the contraindications to usage and the likely side-effects. It has dosages (and rules for calculating them) and prognostic guides, all concisely and clearly written for each listed medicine. SO, if you don't know when - or if - to use Tetracycline versus Ciproflaxin, then you NEED (yes, "need", in capital letters) the medication guide included here. It may also be possible to download that information (usually for a charge) from the Hesperian website. Regardless of how you get it, though, you need to get it. The rest of the book is good background reading, but the "Medication Guide" is a "MUST HAVE" (again, in capital letters).Bottomline, if you are thinking about getting into prepping or need to start prepping your medical gear and delivery system, this is a helpful, even interesting (not to say amusing - witness the sections on how to handle folk medicine superstitions and "witches") book which may give you some good ideas (and, at the least, provoke some serious thinking about the situation). If you are looking for something to save your life when you find yourself at the bottom of a cliff with a broken leg, get Forgey's book instead (actually, get Forgey's book, period and supplement it with the "Medication Guide" from this one).
User
important for all people to read
most of the book is about prevention of health problems and a basic primer on what causes health problems, basic sanitation, etc. i was denied access to a dentist in ny because i had no health insurance and was denied low income insurance because i live off grid and the forms required my "last 3 electric bills" as proof of financial status as well as other things i couldn't provide since the didn't exist. ended up going to vermont to have the tooth pulled cause ny bs prevented me from accessing a dentist. read up on treating things myself since its better than dealing with the medical system, and its just got worse since obamacare was forced down everyones throats. did my own stitches a few times and generally reread this book every year now as a refresher for preventing problems and treating them at home. wish i could still get fishmox on amazon but had to buy elsewhere (great for treating gum abcesses, better than draining with a hot needle, not easy to get to vermont when outside my own skill and have to treat in interm). have the pdf copies of village sanitation and dentist, going to upgrade to hardcover when i can since i don't trust anything in electric formats
User
Great Book!
This book contains tons of useful information for those "out in the field".
User
Where there is no dr review
I love this book. It provides a lot of information on common and not so common illnesses and how to treat them, and how not to treat them. It's written for areas where doctors are not readily available, but does assume you have access to a dr (even if walking a few days to get to one) and also assume you have access to a healthcare worker or store who has access to drugs and antibiotics. I think it's a great teaching and treating resource, and I am glad to add it to my collection. There are a few things I didn't like, but they're mostly because I like continuity and consistency, and because I constantly proofread. A few examples are a reference to find a medicine on a certain page, yet that med isn't in the book at all except on the referring page, ten a med is supposed to be on a particular page, yet it's on the following page, and treatable symptoms and illnesses have the pages for those specific things listed in parenthesis SOMETIMES. ALSO, the book promotes vaccines, which I am against. I has measles, mumps and chickenpox as a child. I also participated in the measles get together. Overall, I do recommend this book.
User
This book is like insurance; it's good to have it and hopefully never need to use it
For those who are serious about overall prepardness. In a serious collapse where one cannot count on public/professional ser vices you need to be self-sufficient. Knowledge is a powerful asset and one that relates directly to health is an asset on steroids. For me this is a no brainer to have this book as part of a knwoledge library.
User
si le docteur est a 3 jours de voyage de chez vous.
Un livre pour ceux qui vont vraiment plus loin, par exemple si vous voyagez les océans avec votre bateau. Mais le but original du livre était d'aider les 2 millards de gens qui sont toujours au dehors du soin medicale. Les deux extremes (riche et pauvre) se touchent...
User
Good product
Good book to have if you need to know what to do in an emergency.
User
Unverzichtbar
Sehr hilfreich!Gut aufgebaut und kompakt.
User
Must have for PHC MOs.
Very useful book for those servicing in remote areas and PHCs.Book gives insight on various primary issues that we encounter on primary level
User
Sembando la duda
Este libro es un graaaan recurso, desde su primera publicación hasta antes se esta última edición. Donde por alguna razón incorporaron temas muy politizados que al dia de hoy lo publicado ya no concuerda con la realidad. Como que las vacunas previenen la infección de Covid 19. Es una tristeza que un recurso que fue diseñado para atender poblaciones sin acceso a un medico preparado empiecen a tener este tipo de cuestiones que ponen en duda la veracidad del resto de la información publicada. Necesitamos reestablecer la confianza.
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