01 May 2002

Asmara, Eritrea: After some 20 years of working as a gynaecologist and obstetrician in her home city of Almaty in Kazakhstan, Dr Gulzhan Chimbayeva wanted to gain some experience in a different environment and she thought the United Nations would be the perfect organization to work for.

She explained: I had done a lot of work with the United Nations Fund for Population in my country and had been involved with a women's NGO that was funded by them, so I had some idea of what working for the organization would be like".

Travelling the world - which is something that was often required of UN employees - was not new to her either. She had already been to China, Austria, Bulgaria and Israel, though never to Africa. "But I knew a little bit about this part of the world because when I studied in Israel, I met with an Ethiopian doctor who used to tell me about his country, so I knew vaguely where Eritrea was", she added.

Nevertheless, Dr Gulzhan, read every book and article she could find about Eritrea and the Horn of Africa region in general before joining UNMEE's Medical Clinic as a UN Volunteer in January this year, as a general practitioner. Though she had not practiced general medicine for some years, Dr Gulzhan found that her experience as a specialist helped in a few instances although not many. "I would say that the general practice experience I'm gaining here, would definitely be very useful if I return to gynaecology and obstetrics in the future".

In the medical clinic at the Staff Officers Camp in Asmara, she encounters mainly abdominal problems - but of a different kind then the one she is used to - from both men and women. "Here people suffer from intestinal infections which mainly due to the different food they have to eat". Malaria, a disease that Dr Gulzhan had studied but had never encountered, is the biggest cause of illness in Eritrea.

"I'm interested in people and therefore I'm interested in anything disease that makes them sick. Malaria cases were at first new to me but I was able to successfully treat the first patient I had and so far I have treated five cases, mostly originating from outside Asmara", she explained. Dr Gulzhan has so far enjoyed her experience with UNMEE and once she completes her contract with this mission, she is keen to go on to other UN missions to tackle new challenges.