I was visiting Rio Muni, the continental half of Equatorial Guinea with some medical colleagues. We were assessing the health situation in the country and we had arrived at Niefang, a small, sparsely populated, neglected town in the interior. The high humidity made the heat even more oppressive.
In the town hospital I met a young Spanish physician, Dr. Ramon Vila. Calm and self-assured, he radiated warmth. That I was born in Argentina, a former Spanish colony, helped establish an immediate rapport between us.
He was treating a difficult medical case, an older man whose body was covered by large, irregularly shaped, infected ulcers. The infections, with the heat and lack of hygiene, reeked. Dr. Vila described the health status of the other patients in the ward, and then he led us on a tour of the rest of the hospital.