Another dip on the emotional rollercoaster.

Today I was struck by just how unfair life is. Out in clinics I saw a child who is about 2 years old (her date of birth is unknown). She'd been brought in by her aunt who had fetched her from Swaziland the week before, following the death of her parents in January. She'd been in a Swazi hospital in December and her discharge summary states "HIV positive, TB, malnutriton". She'd started ARVs, TB treatment and feed-up but the family who handed her over from Swazi had no medicines for her. It's unclear when they were stopped. She'd weighed 7.1kg on discharge and now weighs 6kg. That's about half of what she ought to. I've brought her in to try to restart all the treatments and involve the dietician and social workers but it may all be too late.
And this brought up in me some emotions that I thought I had already dealt with but which caught me afresh today; I feel angry at the world that in 2010 this is still happening and I feel guilty that I can't change it. It is just too big and complex an issue. But mostly I feel very sad. She is just a child, and life has dealt her an incredibly raw deal that she may not be able to break out of. And the worst part is that she is just one example of many.