Indonesia

Indonesia is compiled of 17,500 islands, 6,000 of them are populated with people. There are 240 million people in this country. A quarter of the population lives on the island of Java. They are the 4th largest democracy in the world. 86% of the population is Muslim, but they are not an Islamic state, meaning that they have freedom of religion. Some of the challenges they face are extreme poverty, poor health, low education, porous borders, corruption and weak rule of law. 2/3 of Indonesia is rain forest and there are 100 active volcanos, one in which was on the island of Moratai where we just were. I watched the sunset over this volcano last night. There are 300 dialects spoken in Indonesia and English is taught in the schools particularly on the large island of Java where it is more modern. The government has a campaign “Two children is Enough” trying to help decrease the population growth, but traditionally Indonesian's have large families. 22,000 people in Indonesia died when the tsunami hit their country. The temperature for Ternate will be 88-90 highs 77-78 lows with a heat index of 98-100. We are in an area where there is active malaria. The female mosquito carries this and she feeds mostly dusk til dawn. I should not be on any land during these times. I have been on doxycycline for about 3 weeks now to help prevent malaria. We do have many of our MedCaps that will be onsite at Ternate for 8 days living in tents so they will be at risk for malaria and for intestinal worms from the local food. There is much to think about here that would never even cross our minds in the states.

Moratai/Tobelo Stats
53 surgeries done
5676 patients seen ashore
155 animals seen

1056 people are serving on the Mercy right now including Navy, host nations, & NGO's  There are 156 NGO's.  The patient population fluxuates daily.