CLOSE UP
Southern Madagascar is far away in every respect – at a distance of more than 1000km from the capital, and with it the rest of the world. A journey south is long and reveals a world far removed from the one we know. Each person there has a unique story, which is why, with their permission, we’d like to share with you a few from our patients and their families. Together with personal accounts of Madagascar and its people, of medicine and culture as well as the impressive commitment of our volunteers, these reports will bring you “close up” to this corner of the globe.
The Junges Ensemble Berlin, one of Germany’s leading youth orchestras, bewitched its audience with Beethoven’s masterful violin concerto and Prokofiev’s fiery Fifth Symphony. What an evening at the Berlin Philharmonic!...
Financing an aid mission yourself? Yes, it’s possible - Johannes Häußermann is the proof, with his crowdfunding drive "An Engineer for Madagascar"....
Since 2012, Doctors for Madagascar has been an NGO partner at Praxis Update, a continuing medical education conference for GPs....
The few public health facilities in rural areas in Madagascar often fall into disrepair due to a lack of funds for renovation and maintenance. Reliable water and electricity supplies are also often lacking. Without the admirable...
A seven-year-old girl in the village of Mandiso, in the south-east of Madagascar. Her name: Kristy....
April 2012: Sweaty and shivering with exertion, two oxen drag a heavily laden cart the last few metres to Fotadrevo hospital. The passenger, Tiana, has a 40°C fever and is nine months pregnant....
The sun burns hot on 7th December 2012. One of Médecins Sans Frontières’ white 4x4s pulls into the gate of the hospital in Fotadrevo, carrying three women from the town of Bekily, 60 km away....
The young lady was having seizures and was comatose when she reached the hospital – plus she was eight months pregnant....
For a long time, relatives cooked meals for patients on traditional open fires in the wasteland outside the hospital site....
In the Berlin Team Relay race 2015, three teams ran for Madagascar over the course of two days....
At the Berlin Half-Marathon 2015, a team of doctors from the Berlin Charité hospital decided to run for Doctors for Madagascar....
The Hopitaly Zoara in Fotadrevo uses the public electricity network, which is supplied by two large diesel generators on the nearby town square. Yet the power supply is unstable....
Many talented musicians have helped us raise money for Madagascar by running charity concerts....
Without PAUL there is little or no clean water. Developed for use in disaster areas, PAUL is a kind of water rucksack with a built-in filtering system....
Launched in 2016, we now operate 6 all-terrain ambulances in the rural south of the island. The journeys take them over dirt roads, through rivers and across country. Drivers and vehicles are often pushed to their limits....
A 9-hour drive over 237km, mostly on dirt roads, brings us from the coastal city of Tulear to Fotadrevo. The last time we were here was in 2012....
The south of Madagascar suffered the worst drought since 1981 last year. Drought and sandstorms inflicted devastating damage to the fields. Livestock died of starvation and thirst. People ate cacti, locusts or indigestible plant...
The lack of network coverage in rural regions of Madagascar often prevents life-saving emergency calls from being made - but if the emergency call is received, every second counts. In order to be able to prepare for emergency missions...
It’s the beginning of the rainy season, but we are lucky: it only takes us nine hours to cover the 250 km from Tulear to Fotadrevo....
Shortly after sunset, a crowd of perhaps 40 people rush onto the hospital grounds. Everyone’s in a frenzy – a sure sign of a severely injured patient....
