Last year I was lucky enough to go to Chad. Many things impressed me there, particularly the endurance of the Chadian people. They face many hardships - blazing heat, insecurity, poverty and disease. Chad lies in Africa’s “meningitis belt”. So, pretty much every year, meningitis epidemics visit Chad. I got a chance to see the effects first hand. The pediatric ward of the general hospital was literally overflowing with cases of meningococcal meningitis. Patients were kept on the balconies outside of the wards because of the sheer number of patients. As is commonly the case the developing world, the hospitals cannot afford to treat the patients for free, yet the patients cannot afford to buy the medicines. The situation had gotten so bad however that the Ministry of Health provided funds to treat patients with a single intramuscular dose of chloramphenicol on days one and three of hospitalization. Other medications, such as to control fevers or seizures were generally up to the patients and their families to obtain. Many simply did without. The doctors and nurses worked hard even though they were frustrated by not having enough drugs and equipment to help everyone. Even so, I realized that they were saving many more lives each day than I do back home in the USA.