Without health, there is no life
Access to quality healthcare is still a privilege in many rural areas of Africa. We are working to change that by strengthening the system from within: hospitals, local staff and community programmes.
When serious cases had to travel 450 km
In Afar, the region where we started, the nearest hospital was Dubti Regional Hospital, about 70 km away, and the most serious cases had to be taken to Dessie, 450 km away. In other rural areas of Ethiopia, the situation is not very different: hospitals without equipment, too few health workers, and endemic diseases (leishmaniasis, intestinal parasites, malaria) that devastate whole communities before they are even diagnosed. Health is not a service you can buy. It is built through infrastructure, training and a constant presence.
Hospitals, health workers and neglected diseases
We build and refurbish health facilities: from the maternity ward at Dubti Hospital to Asayita General Hospital, which serves an area of more than 450,000 people. We also train local staff together with the Ethiopian health authorities. And we have taken part in international programmes against neglected diseases:
- KalaCORE against visceral leishmaniasis, with UK aid and WHO, in 32 health facilities across four regions
- the programme against Strongyloides parasites, with Fundación Mundo Sano and WHO.
A hospital can’t work without running water or well-fed patients. That is why our health projects almost always go hand in hand with water, nutrition or health education.
Our HEALTH projects
