Why are you always sick?

This was the question my Dad asked me when I called him for his birthday yesterday (at least that's what I think he said over the feedback of the internet phone).

Take this week for example. In our family of 5 we battled coughs, colds, croup, diarrhoea, hives, hayfever, thrush, strep throat and sleep deprivation (that's Mum). Nothing particularly serious... just tiring and pretty normal for life here.

Why?

Maybe it's the fluctuating temperatures of the wet season, mould from months of rain, dust from quickly-dry unpaved roads, smoke from neighbours cooking on charcoal or burning rubbish (including plastic), mosquitoes that carry all sorts of nasties, or the water we trek through down our road after heavy rain because of drains blocked by rubbish. Even water from our tap is undrinkable.

Sure, we take precautions. We are vaccinated against the most dangerous diseases. We clean our floors daily, walls are done weekly. Food is washed in filtered water before cooking. We de-worm ourselves regularly. We sleep under mosquito nets and wear RiD to places that have a recent history of Dengue. We wash our hands and feet regularly and never walk through the house with shoes on. We eat well and try to get plenty of rest.

But still, it only took Noah, our 5 month old, two weeks in the country to contract the biggest killer of children under five - diarrhoea. (Perhaps this also answers the unasked question of why I persist in feeding Noah despite the many problems I continue to have with it.)

A friend of mine studying for her Masters in maternal and child health, tells me that in Cambodia one in five children will die before the age of five. (Compare this to Australia's rate of one in 200). Over half of these deaths are due to diarrhoea, respiratory infections and vaccine preventable diseases. All exacerbated by the fact that 45% of children under 5 are underweight.

In 2003, Government spending on health care was US$3.30 per person (compared to $1892.00 in Australia). These inadequate services simply do not yet reach the poorest or most remote. Lack of treatment simply leads to death or disability, loss of income and perpetuation of the poverty cycle.

Catching up with my friend Phanarath soon after we returned to Cambodia, I learned that her younger sister had died while I was away. It was a rare but treatable disease (just not treatable in Cambodia). The family simply couldn't afford to send her to Thailand and she died before her 20th birthday of what they described as "a rich person's disease". Only the rich can afford to have it.

For me and my family, we have access to medical care, even insurance to charter a medical plane in an emergency that will take us to Bangkok for treatment. We can afford to get sick.

So, when I am tempted to throw myself a pity-party, it is good to remember that we are actually the lucky ones.