He is leaving for Sierra Leone Sara Perelliyoung specialist in emergency medicine in Pisa. Originally from Lucca32 years old, from May 4th he will spend six months in the hospital in Freetown, the country’s capital, thanks to the Jpo project (Junior Project Officer) Of Doctors with Africa CUAMM which allows trainees to gain experience in Africa, recognized in their training as young doctors.
“Africa has always been in my plans and now I will finally be able to have this experience, which scares and excites me at the same time – says Sara -. I’m leaving without too many expectations, because I know that the hospital where I will work is a very complex reality. I will have to deal with birth complications, which I am not used to and I am aware that I will have to work hard both to be able to integrate into the context and to be able to experiment with a different approach to medicine”.
CUAMM has been present in Sierra Leone since 2012, the year in which it began operating in the Pujehun district. At the outbreak of the terrible Ebola epidemic in 2014, he decided to remain alongside the local population and the Pujehun district was the first to be declared Ebola Free. Since March 2016, CUAMM has accepted the request of the country’s Ministry of Health to also intervene in Freetown, the capital, and relaunch the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, where Sara will go, the main maternity hospital which, with its 125 beds, it is a point of reference and carries out over 6500 deliveries per year. The fight against maternal and child mortality is the new challenge to be won, in the country with the highest mortality rate of mothers and children in the world. The new interventions in the areas of Bonthe, Bo and Makeni also fit in this direction, both at hospital and territorial level.
Three long years of pandemic have unfortunately weakened an already fragile healthcare system and recorded a significant reduction in access to hospitals. And then climate change, drought and instability due to conflicts. A terrible vicious cycle where poverty, illness and misery determine more poverty, illness and misery. Life in Africa is an obstacle course, a bumpy climb where hardships are added to hardships and burdens upon burdens, with the final risk of being crushed and that the ones who pay are always and only the poorest, and the weakest groups, mothers and children. The challenge is to remain alongside the African population in their daily battles, which become bigger and bigger every day. For this reason, for Doctors with Africa CUAMM it is even more important to give continuity to projects and provide healthcare to those who need it most.
It is possible to support Doctors with Africa CUAMM with an online donation at www.mediciconlafrica.org.
Doctors with Africa CUAMM
Born in 1950, Doctors with Africa CUAMM is the first NGO in the healthcare field recognized in Italy and the largest Italian organization for the promotion and protection of the health of African populations. It carries out long-term projects with a development perspective, intervening with this approach as well in emergency situations, to guarantee quality services accessible to all. Today Doctors with Africa CUAMM is involved in 8 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) with over 3400 operators in the field, of which 247 were Italian. It supports 21 hospitals and 124 districts (for public health activities, maternal and child care, fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria) 4 schools for nurses and midwives and a university (in Mozambique).
