A constant stream of customers came to the 24-hour French-protectorate-era pharmacy at the edge of the medina. We approached the pharmacist, a woman in her 40s who spoke fluent French. She smiled and welcomed our questions about healthcare in Morocco. She told us that the most common afflictions are skin diseases (such as dermatitis and eczema), rubella, eye problems (including infections), women’s diseases, and cancers (most often stomach, intestinal, throat and lung cancers). When asked the one thing she could tell the general Moroccan population, she replied: “I wish that their cleanliness and personal hygiene was higher. They need to wash their hands frequently, and wash their clothes, their food and the places that they live more often. Above all, I would like Moroccans to have ‘esprit et espoir’ — spirit and hope — about their lives.”
