Your colleague, Martha, is a researcher on malaria outbreaks in a nation where malaria is endemic and in a local area where there are high incidences of this mosquito-borne disease. Martha has taken with her anti-malarial medication for her own protection, should she get the disease. Martha confides to you that she realizes that she actually has taken much, much more medication that she could possibly use for her own personal use.
But Martha also is concerned that if she gives the medication to the local people she might be impacting her demographic data during the time she is in the nation. She also is concerned that the medication she has does not confer permanent immunity and once the medication ran out, there would be no one to provide more medication; she would be creating a demand for a medicine to which the people would not have further access. Furthermore, she thinks, I am not a doctor and cannot diagnose the disease in order to give medication.
Martha is thinking that it might be best to not give the medication out while she is in the nation and to take it back after she finishes her research. She asks your advice. What would you advice Martha to do?
This is an extremely difficult question to answer! If I were Martha, I suppose I would give the extra medication to a local doctor/hospital and leave it to them to dispense it. I'd also see what I could do to via charitable/ non-governmental organizations to improve access to care on a long-term basis.
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