Abstract
Less than 2 years after graduating from a medical school, I worked in Ethiopia for the smallpox eradication program under WHO. My work was to find out infected villages, and give vaccination to uninfected children. People there lived in rocky mountainous areas with extreme poverty. The experiences were so tough that it has left a permanent ‘scar’ in my brain which influences my behavior/decision thereafter.
Then I worked with WHO for a filariasis program in Samoa. I learned a lot and influenced heavily, but a bit negatively: I
decided to do pure research rather than doing office work.
The emotional and shocking experiences in developing countries have given me the energy which is necessary to continue arrogant ways of work in the field of tropical medicine.
