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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. In the meantime, this clinic has grown into a real hospital, thanks to funding from Doctors for Madagascar. It’s impressive what real commitment can achieve.
The nights are cold, sometimes below 10°C, but just what’s needed after a day in the operating theatre. Some of the cases we see are dramatic – even for a team of Madagascar-weathered doctors. You don’t want to imagine what some of the patients have been through or what they are still suffering.
Ingo Plötzender, the head of the Smile 4 Madagascar team, has run several missions to help patients in the south of Madagascar.
Such as the 5-year-old boy who stepped too close to an open fireplace about two years ago. The blanket he was wrapped in caught fire and was ablaze within moments. The child survived, but was badly injured, with large deep-tissue burns. The family could not afford adequate treatment and over time his right arm became completely fused to his torso by scar tissue. Yesterday we operated on him and after three hours we had managed to separate the arm and cover the wounds with skin grafts. He has a good chance of recovering the use of his arm.
Right now the operating theatre is prepped for the next surgery – the 17th case this week.
PROJECTS
17.03.2016
80% of Madagascans live in extreme poverty. As there is no universal health insurance, Doctors for Madagascar covers the medical costs for patients who otherwise could not afford medical care.
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17.11.2015
Doctors for Madagascar organises regular aid missions with volunteer doctors and medical staff from Europe. These volunteers treat patients directly and also provide training for local staff.
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01.10.2015
Southern Madagascar urgently needs qualified medical personnel. Our project "Skills to Save Lives" provides medical training for doctors, nurses and technical staff in one of the poorest areas of the country.
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01.09.2015
Pregnant women with severe labour complications often only reach a clinic after traveling for hours on an oxcart – with serious consequences for them and their child. Most have no access to pre-natal care. Doctors for Madagascar is working to improve care for pregnant women and newborns.
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17.08.2015
In Madagascar, patients are generally fed and cared for by their families. So that food shortages don't get in the way of treatment, Doctors for Madagascar covers the subsistence costs of all in-patients in our partner hospitals.
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17.07.2015
Many hospital buildings and health centres in Madagascar are in a desperate state, with no money for even the simplest repairs. Doctors for Madagascar supports hospitals and health centres to build and renovate essential facilities.
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17.06.2015
Kept in good condition, hospital equipment saves lives. But extreme climates, inconsistent electricity and inadequate maintenance in Africa wear out medical equipment much faster than in the UK. We provide not only medical equipment, but also training on maintenance and care.
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CLOSE UP
FUNDRAISING EVENTS
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!
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FUNDRAISING EVENTS
Since 2012, Doctors for Madagascar has been an NGO partner at Praxis Update, a continuing medical education conference for GPs.
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PATIENT STORIES
Today a mother came into the hospital carrying a baby – one week old with ashen skin and a belly distended like a barrel.
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BEYOND MEDICINE
For a long time, relatives cooked meals for patients on traditional open fires in the wasteland outside the hospital site.
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PATIENT STORIES
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.
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MISSION REPORTS
Financing an aid mission yourself? Yes, it’s possible - Johannes Häußermann is the proof, with his crowdfunding drive "An Engineer for Madagascar".
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BACKGROUND
Developing countries have seen dramatic improvements in many areas over the last 15 years.
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BACKGROUND
Madagascar stands apart from sub-Saharan African nations with regard to HIV/AIDS rates. Why?
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PATIENT STORIES
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.
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ON THE GROUND
Nine hours’ worth of parched land pass by our 4x4 as we travel from Toliara to Fotadrevo. Cacti, shrubs, scant trees and now and then a village of mud huts. Sand and dust reach as far as the eye can see, in shades of red, brown and grey.
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