[ad_1]
The Africa Mercy hospital ship, which operates along the African coast, is expected in Dakar on 15 August for a period of 10 months. With 400 volunteers on board, surgeons, nurses, mechanics, sailors and other specialists, this ship welcomes thousands of patients each year waiting for surgery.
According to a recent study, five billion people do not have sufficient access to essential surgical care. A Global Surgery 2030 study shows that in West and Sub-Saharan Africa, 93% of people are without surgical care. On average there are two doctors per 10,000 inhabitants, compared with 32 in Europe, according to the World Health Organization. Life expectancy is only 52 years, compared with 74 in Europe. Since 1978, Mercy Ships has worked with governments and the WHO to help meet this challenge.
The objective of the Mercy Ships hospital ships is not only to meet the immediate surgical needs of the population, but also to offer medical training programs and renovations of health infrastructure, with the aim of improving health systems of the countries visited.
Mercy Ships is still visiting a country at the invitation of the government: before the arrival of the ship, the NGO collaborates with the Ministry of Health to define the needs and extent of the assistance it is able to to improve the health system. She does all this thanks to her donors.
The Africa Mercy, 152 meters long, is expected in the port of Dakar in August. The teams hope to perform between 3,000 and 4,000 surgeries during the ten months of the mission. The NGO provides free health care in the fields of gynecology, ophthalmology, surgery and dental care.
The Navy of Hope has a staff of 400 volunteers coming from 40 different countries with 5 operating theaters, 82 beds, a scanner, a complete equipment for x-ray radios and a laboratory.
In its 40 years of existence, Mercy Ships has performed 100,000 surgical procedures to treat diseases such as tumors, burns, cleft lip (cleft lip), orthopedic malformations (see video below), cataracts …
By Gaëlle Picut https://lepetitjournal.com/
Source link
