Cuamm launches an intervention in the Tigray region

Posted on Marzo 9, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

Doctors with Africa CUAMM is starting an intervention in Tigray, Ethiopia in the coming weeks. Thanks to funds allocated by the CEI, through Caritas Italiana, and in partnership with the Ethiopian Catholic Church, the intervention will focus on the area between Adigrat and Makellè, the region’s main cities, and will support three health centers, managed by different religious congregations, severely damaged or destroyed in the conflict that started last November 4th.

These centers are the Idaga Hamus center, not far from Adigrat, almost entirely destroyed in the conflict, and the health centers of Shire and Alitena, in the central area near Adua. There is a shortage of life-saving drugs, health aids, equipment, clean water, and electricity.

CUAMM will also supply medicines and medical materials to the Ayder government hospital in Makellé, which has also been severely impacted. Along with repairing the centers, the health personnel also has to be motivated to return to providing care and relief to the people.

“An estimated 5 million people are in need of food. That is about 70% of a total of 7 million people (the population of Tigray),” says Riccardo Buson, CUAMM’s representative in Ethiopia. “The health system is almost completely decimated. An unknown number of health centers have been looted and health workers, not having been paid, have left their jobs. WHO estimates that only 22% of health facilities are functioning. The people need everything, but food and health care first and foremost. The area in which we will be working for about the next 9 months extends from Adigrat to the north to Makellè to the south. The entire area is still extremely unstable. Up until now, no one could come in and communications were blocked. Some signs of improvement have been seen in recent days, and since February 26, humanitarian flights have also reopened to reach the two cities.”

The director of CUAMM Don Dante Carraro explains the choice to act here: “The situation in Tigray is very bad. According to the little information that makes it to us, people are desperate and fleeing because they are afraid of massacres and violence. They are leaving their homes and hiding from the rebels, with no clean water or food for days. ‘It’s a cry for an urgent humanitarian emergency’: these are the heartfelt words of the bishop of Adigrat, Msgr. Tesfaselassie Medhin. How can we remain indifferent in the face of such a dire request, in the face of such extreme need? When the bishop asked us to intervene and told us about the situation, we decided that something had to be done. We have been active in Ethiopia since 1980 aiming to help develop the health system. We are currently in Gambella, in the west, in Wolisso, in the center, not far from Addis, and in South Omo, in the south. For 10 years we have also worked in Adigrat, in a center for the disabled. At CUAMM, we do not retreat in the face of emergencies. We roll up our sleeves and try to find solutions, to offer practical answers, starting with small but essential actions such as rebuilding a health center and supplying lacking medicine.”

Since November 4, a conflict sparing no one has struck Tigray, in northern Ethiopia. There have been massacres, violence, ethnic cleansing, hundreds of faithful and pilgrims killed, and temples and monasteries destroyed, as recently confirmed by Amnesty International. There are at least 222,413 internally displaced persons in the Tigray region and 63,600 internally displaced persons in the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar. According to the UNCHR, as of January 12, 2021, approximately 57,500 people have crossed the border into Sudan, mainly from Tigray. Ethiopia has a population of over 109 million and 80 ethnic groups. In Tigray, a northern region similar in size to Italy’s Lombardy and Piedmont together, there are 7 million people, mostly Tigrayans, 6% of the entire Ethiopian population. When Prime Minister Abiy, of Oromo ethnicity, came to power in 2018, relations between Tigers and the rest of the country became strained, leading to conflict and civil war.

In addition to the new front in Tigray, CUAMM continues to work in the rest of the country, especially trying to stem the spread of Covid 19 as much as possible. Doctors with Africa CUAMM recently launched the campaign, “A vaccine for us!”

International Women’s Day Two portraits of determination

Posted on Marzo 8, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

Women are central to Doctors with Africa CUAMM’s commitment to health, and they are also on the front lines of acting for change. Women are 55% of the expatriate human resources of Doctors with Africa CUAMM; European and African professional women are working at the forefront in the fight against maternal mortality, as well as against malnutrition, HIV, and non-communicable diseases. They manage projects, mediate with local authorities, decide how to use funds, and often are balancing work and raising children as well.

For Women’s Day, Doctors with Africa CUAMM is spotlighting two stories from the field: Inocencia Fumo, a Mozambican doctor, and Martha Nyabel, a South Sudanese project manager.

“If we study, we can be what we want”

Inocencia Fumo is 36 years old, comes from Nampula, in the north of Mozambique, but has lived in Beira for sixteen years, where she was able to study medicine thanks to a scholarship. She says that being a woman helped her get the scholarship, but then as a young doctor she had to deal with the distrust of some patients, especially older men, who were not used to being treated by a young woman doctor. Years and experience solved this problem. Now she has three daughters and works with Doctors with Africa CUAMM managing a project to fight diabetes and hypertension. She sees education as the key:

“I always tell my three daughters that the important thing is that they go to school: everything starts from there. If we are educated, we women can go where we want, do and be what we want. When they don’t feel like going to school, I show them that I go to work even when I don’t feel like it, because now I’m doing what I studied for, what I’ve always wanted to do. I’d like them to become strong women, with positive attitudes, who are not afraid to follow their dreams and not afraid to fall down. Because by falling down we can get up again and keep going. It was my father who first encouraged me to study. There weren’t many fathers who thought like him, but I was the first in the family to graduate, and then he graduated too and now he’s a lawyer, and my mother, who studied mathematics, also graduated.”

“My personal success”

Martha Nyabel, a South Sudanese woman from the state of Jonglei, worked for three years in Nyal, an extremely rural area of South Sudan, where Doctors with Africa CUAMM implemented an emergency project for refugees fleeing conflict and hunger. She has dedicated herself to bringing health services to the furthest outposts, succeeding in building an emergency operating room and coordinating several mobile clinics. Patience and perseverance are her key qualities, as she says:

“This project has improved the lives of many people. It is a true joy for the community and for me too. I experience it as a personal success. These were three intense years: the first year was really extreme. Sometimes I found myself thinking, “What the hell am I doing here?” and also “Be patient, wait.” Now I can see all these smiles on people’s faces because of our efforts. I worked hard to complete this project, so now I’m happy!”

Making a difference with migrant people

Posted on Marzo 3, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

Aaditya Sharma Dalooa is 29 years old, speaks 6 languages, and comes from Mauritius. He is a cultural mediator for the Municipality of Bari, in Puglia, and for the Casa Cultura Association. He meets with immigrants in Puglia, laborers who live in the informal settlements, and he helps them get oriented in the labyrinth of Italian bureaucracy. He translates documents for them, gives advice on how to apply for a residence permit or how to keep in order all the papers needed for all the different procedures.

“I came to Italy with my family in 2009. My mom, my dad, and my brother,” says Aaditya. We chose Italy to build a future, to give us a chance at a dignified life. And we found it. I already had a science diploma, but it wasn’t recognized here in Italy as a course of study, so I had to go to high school for three years. Then I enrolled in university and I still have two exams to do plus a thesis to graduate in Literature and European Union Law. In the meantime, I took courses to become a cultural mediator, which let me find a part-time job, thanks to CUAMM as well.”

The informal settlements in Foggia are one of the saddest parts of the situation in Italy. Immigrants, mostly men from Africa, live in very precarious, often degrading conditions. They work under the table in the fields, picking tomatoes, asparagus, olives, and grapes. From 4:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the evening for €2.50 per hour. They have no rights, no recognition because if you have no fixed residence, you can’t ask for an ID, which takes 9–10 months anyhow. With an expired residence permit, the only chance to make money is working under the table.

Aaditya goes with the Doctors with Africa CUAMM Bari camper-clinic every time it visits the eight settlements of Casa Sankara and Arena in the Province of San Severo, where about 650 people live, as well as to the farmhouses of Borgo Cicerone (San Marco in Lamis) and Pozzo Terraneo (Cerignola). These are very isolated properties, where around a hundred immigrants find shelter, mostly men from Africa, from Senegal, Gambia, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria.

Aaditya explains, “These are buildings far from everything, without water, electricity, or windows. Nobody comes here, no services, no ambulances if someone is sick. There is not even a way to get to a supermarket. Thanks to CUAMM and to the IRC-19 project, food kits adequate for 1 month are distributed. Every time we bring the kits, I am moved to see how these people can hardly wait to get the package in their hands to open it and be able to eat. And so when they hear that the camper with the doctors is coming for the visits, they greet them as ‘saviors.'”

This is all made possible through the indispensable role of the cultural mediator who helps doctors communicate with immigrants and helps them overcome their natural fear and mistrust to let themselves be checked and helped.

“I like this work very much. Thanks to the CUAMM team that works so hard to help these people who no one thinks about, and thanks to the support of USAID, we are really making a difference for these people.”

From the start of the project through January, 2,200 food kits, or 33,300 meals, were distributed.

This story is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Doctors with Africa CUAMM, recipient of the Fixed Amount Award (FAA) No. 7200AA20FA00013 and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Maria Stella “I never expected to be treated so kindly”

Posted on Febbraio 26, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

Maria Stella Fernandez comes from humble origins, but she never needed help from anyone. Since 2008, when she arrived in La Spezia from the Dominican Republic, she has always worked, not stopping for a second. She even managed to bring her children to Italy. Maria Stella supports her daughter and grandchildren: two years ago, she decided to move into a new apartment, closer to her grandchildren’s school.

“We used to pay less rent” she explains “but it was too far from the kids’ school. There were few buses connecting the hold place and the school, and they were so little: I couldn’t stand to see them going out still very sleepy every single morning. I decided to look for a new apartment. I was working as a caregiver at the time, for an elderly couple here in La Spezia. It was enough to make a living, pay for a better apartment and give my grandchildren what they needed. Then Covid-19 came.”

The family Maria Stella was working for suddenly decided to let her go. The couple’s daughter thought it might be too dangerous to have someone in their home who might give them the virus. Maria Stella understood their fears but had to come to terms with the lack of a salary in the middle of a pandemic, with an expensive new home and three people to take care of. Her former employer suggested her to go to the Don Bosco Church, just to see if they could help her somehow.

It was the beginning of the summer, when Maria Stella met Daniela and Moreno, who volunteered for the group “Colazioni col Sorriso” (Breakfast with a smile) and gave her the help she needed.

“Let me tell you something, she says, I never expected to be treated so kindly! Until the middle of January, every two weeks they gave me all I needed to eat: pasta, rice, tomato sauce, vegetables, olive oil, jam and biscuits, even some sweets for the kids. It was such a joy to receive all this good food in this situation. In January I found a new job: they give me 800 € per month, but it is enough to pay for the apartment and to buy my own groceries. So I decided to quit the programme. There is plenty of people in need, I advised lot of my friends to go the same volunteers for help. I simply think that now they deserve this help more than me. But I don’t regret anything: the first time I received my pack I cried for joy and I would do the same thing again if I needed to. I would never starve, or let my kids suffer! These volunteers have been so good to me, I can’t pay them back financially, but I told them: I am ready to do my part. I will always be grateful to them; they have been wonderful!”.

As Maria Stella get back on her feet, many people still need food assistance in La Spezia. Doctors with Africa CUAMM has provided support to the volunteers of “Colazioni col Sorriso” in La Spezia thanks to the U.S. Government, which through USAID is supporting a number of projects in Italy, aiming at reducing the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. From August 2020 to December 2020, 30,000 kg of food have been distributed in La Spezia.

TELEMEDICINE, DISTANCE LEARNING AND FAMILY VISITS DURING COVID-19

Posted on Febbraio 17, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

Being a community during Covid-19 has been easier for San Patrignano, thanks to Doctors with Africa CUAMM. Last November, the NGO supported San Patrignano Community installing a new Wi-Fi network in the medical centre and four video stations. The technologies have already been used to put in contact the hosts of the community with therapists, doctors and families, ensuring the continuity of care during the pandemic. This new IT system is funded by the U.S. Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and will improve the work and quality of life of people in the community, paying particular attention to HIV+ patients admitted in the medical centre.

San Patrignano Community hosts a thousand people for rehab and has also a medical centre where patients with HIV and AIDS are treated. During the first lockdown, between March and May 2020, the community has been spared by Covid-19, sacrificing much of the services offered and limiting contacts with the outside. New admissions were postponed, as well as family visits, and psychotherapies which involved professionals coming from the outside were reduced. With the new video stations, these activities have been developed online, while the medical centre can now guarantee consultations and check-ups for the patients via telemedicine experimentation. Students who live in San Patrignano have been using the video stations to access distance learning classes, with a big improvement in terms of comfort.

Alessandro Rodino dal Pozzo and Antonio Boschini, respectively president and medical director of San Patrignano’s Community, hosted at the handover ceremony, together with Mimma Spinelli, mayor of Coriano, and Veronica Censi and Andrea Iannetti from Doctors with Africa CUAMM.

Alessandro Rodino Dal Pozzo, president of San Patrignano, stated,

“This project is really important to us. Covid-19 forced us to reorganize our work and the lack of contacts with the world outside our community might have been an unbearable burden for our guys. In the beginning, we tried to replace physical meetings with phone calls, both to reach out to family and doctors. Then we understood that seeing their beloved and talking via video calls with therapists and doctors was much more efficient for our hosts. To achieve this goal, the support of Doctors with Africa CUAMM has been fundamental. Over the last two months, from December 2020 to January 2021, we have made possible 230 calls between our guys and their families, 148 telemedicine consultations, 99 interviews for admission, and 73 interviews for psychological support”.

Veronica Censi, project manager of Doctors with Africa CUAMM, explained,

“We are supporting San Patrignano’s Community in the framework of our larger project “Italian Response to Covid-19” (IRC19), that aims to create more resilient healthcare facilities and communities and to provide training for healthcare professionals broadly in Italy. This year we have seen how the knowledge gathered in many years of work in epidemics in Africa can be helpful in Italy as well. We are to sustain the community of San Patrignano, thanks to the U.S. Government, which is supporting a number of initiatives in Italy, aiming at reducing the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.”

USAID, which funds IRC19, is the U.S. Government’s premiere development organization operating in more than 100 countries worldwide.

This press release is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Doctors with Africa CUAMM, recipient of the Fixed Amount Award (FAA) No. 7200AA20FA00013 and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

World day of the sick: no one must feel alone in pain

Posted on Febbraio 11, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

February 11 is the “World Day of the Sick”, celebrated by the Catholic Church on the memorial day of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes, to devote special attention to sick people and care-givers. During a pandemic, this day becomes particularly significant and, in accordance to the message of Pope Francis, Doctors with Africa CUAMM underline the importance of global action. No one can be left behind while suffering: neither the patients, nor the health workers, in Italy as in Africa.

Arianna Bortolani, CUAMM’s doctor with a strong background in Africa, now works on the frontline against Covid-19 in Verona, and reflects upon the different condition of sick people in Italy and in Africa.

“Generally speaking, the loneliness experienced during illness is a much common condition in the West than in Africa. In Wolisso, Ethiopia, as well as in South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania, sick people can always rely on the family. They are never left alone. Usually, when there is no chance of recovery, the family aims to bring patients home, to accompany them in their last moments. There is a lot to learn from that. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has made it difficult for everybody to be near sick people as much as carers and patients would like, causing much pain and anguish for all concerned.”

Bortolani adds, “Sick people in Africa, along with the suffering of their disease, also have to face the worry of not having enough money to pay for treatment. Illness could become a catastrophe for the whole family. We are so lucky, in Italy, to have a basically free national health system, with doctors, nurses, and health professionals who take care of everybody with dedication and generosity”.

Father Dante Carraro, director of Doctors with Africa Cuamm, states, “On the “World Day of the Sick” and in the middle of this global emergency, Pope Francis reminds us that ‘investing resources in the care and assistance of the sick is a priority linked to the fundamental principle that health is a primary common good’. It is a commitment we have token since 1950. As the Pope urges us, we try our best so that ‘no one will feel alone, excluded or abandoned’: both in Africa, in the eight countries where we are present, and in Italy, supporting many fragile situations. Today we see this message as an invitation to push forward, fighting the virus in Italy and in Africa. A call not to forget the people who are still dying of malaria, measles as well as malnutrition and childbirth. We must take care of the whole Planet, or we won’t find peace.

Learning about baby care side by side

Posted on Febbraio 15, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

When Eleonora Balestri, neonatologist, arrived at Wolisso hospital she was involved in a project dedicated to neonatal intensive care, a difficult and delicate context but that gave her great satisfaction: “The opening of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was welcomed with great joy and enthusiasm by the local staff who also saw it as an opportunity to deepen their knowledge and competencies. In fact, 10 out of 13 nurses spent a month in Addis Ababa for a training course. This meant that the 3 remaining nurses took shifts to cover their colleagues. It’s about an intense and dedicated teamwork that could also be felt in the everyday life within the ward. We faced a very difficult case of a little girl, born in a very poor family context, with a severe facial malformation” – continues Eleonora -. “The unexpected pathology of the child forced her mother to stay in the hospital for 3 weeks, causing her further concern because in the meantime she had left her other 6-year-old son with her neighbour and she did not know how to tell them she was still in the hospital. Incredibly it was her neighbour who showed up at Wolisso Hospital to ask after her. The nurses of the ward were so impressed by this case that they decided to collect some money to allow the neighbour to take care of the child while the mother had to look after the little newborn. ”

Covid-19 has upset our daily life, has limited our movements, forcing us to re-evaluate everything around us. Eleonora had already begun to study Portuguese and the projects in Beira to prepare for her scheduled departure for Mozambique, but due to the very strict closure of the borders she had to change program and destination and she arrived in Wolisso, in Ethiopia.

“The first impact with Ethiopia was particular, despite having already worked in Africa and more precisely in Uganda, I realized how different this new context was from both a cultural and professional point of view. From my previous experiences, I’ve learned that the ‘best’ way to settle down is to be humble, to listen, without ever losing yourself, keeping the awareness that you are in a different context, respecting it and trying to create positive relationships” says Eleonora.

By working in various countries in Africa, we get closer to the great plurality of this continent and the immense cultural diversity within it. This is also experienced in the health and medical fields: “In Uganda I had the impression there was a greater “resignation” towards the newborn with a pathology – Eleonora says -. The name, for example, is not given immediately at birth but after some time because the perception of the risk of losing the baby is very high. In Ethiopia, however, the attachment to the newborn seems much stronger from the very first moment even though resources are still very limited “.

Being “with” Africa is also this, understanding it in all its facets and working alongside operators and the local population to take care of everyone even in the last mile.

The daily commitment and dedicated work of Eleonora and the team of the NICU of the Wolisso Hospital is part of the “Newborn Survival Project: quality and innovation for greater access to neonatal care”, supported by the Agency Italian for Development Cooperation.

Photo credits: Andrea Frazzetta

A kit for leaving no one behind

Posted on Febbraio 10, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

25 kilos of rice, 5 liters of oil, salt, in addition to soap for laundry and for personal hygiene, a bucket and facemasks: that’s what makes the difference between being protected or remaining exposed to the risk of contagion. It is assured by Doctors with Africa CUAMM which is firmly engaged in an emergency intervention, with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, in the refugee camps of Nguenyyiel, Tierkidi and Jewi in Gambella region, in Ethiopia, in order to reduce the risk of the Covid-19 spread.

The only Nguenyyiel camp hosts more than 91,000 thousand refugees who fled South Sudan because of the civil war. It is therefore a very fragile context that may collapse with the escalation of the epidemic. The available resources are limited, but the essential goal remains to secure the most vulnerable. Therefore, with the collaboration of a local partner, a “mapping” operation has begun within the camp to identify refugees with disabilities and to be able to distribute them emergency kits.

«People with disabilities get through many difficulties especially in participating in the distribution of basic necessities and materials that normally occur in the camp, due to their physical condition. This is why we decided to organize the activity inside the CUAMM compound, thanks also to the help of 15 community activists who mobilized people to participate in the distribution – says Daniel, project operator for CUAMM -. So far, we have delivered 1,000 sanitary kits and in the coming days we will deliver 1,400 more to refugees with disabilities residing in other areas of the camp».

This activity also extends to the Itang Woreda where about a hundred mothers, whose children are beneficiaries of a program to combat malnutrition, received the kit. «Each mother received 25 kg of rice, 5 liters of oil, salt, as well as soap for laundry and personal hygiene, a bucket and a mask in washable fabric – says Abdisa, CUAMM project assistant -. In addition, 200 people who were affected by the recent floods in the region, also received the sanitary kits».

Protecting the most vulnerable is crucial to overcome current challenges in those contexts made even more fragile by the pandemic of Covid-19 that is affecting everyone, in Italy as in Africa. Doctors with Africa CUAMM works in Africa to ensure the access to healthcare until the last mile, which is not only physical but also a condition experienced by many people in their most extreme vulnerability.

World Cancer Day Let’s not increase the gap

Posted on Febbraio 3, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

February 4 is World Cancer Day. As the world acknowledges the importance of prevention, vaccinations, and of efficient health systems, prepared against emergencies, Doctors with Africa CUAMM wants to highlight the impact of a particular form of cancer on thousands of African women: cervical cancer.

Though easily preventable through vaccination and early screenings, this type of cancer caused by human papillomavirus is very frequent in sub-Saharan Africa, considering that 19 out of 20 countries with the highest burden of cervical cancer are located in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

It would be possible to avoid the 90% of deaths caused by this disease, through prevention and treatment at the first stages of the disease, which don’t require high tech methods. Doctors with Africa CUAMM’s health workers are trained to diagnose women in the peripheral health centres and to treat small lesions on the spot, with outpatient surgery. However, Covid-19 has an indirect impact on these services, as Andrea Atzori, chief of CUAMM’s international relations, explains.

“The pandemic has delayed or reduced diagnosis and treatments for cancer not only in the West, but in Africa too. Within our projects, from Ethiopia to Mozambique, as in Tanzania and Uganda, we see less women coming to the health facilities to be screened, frightened by contagion. We risk not finding cancer in time, even if with cervical cancer this kind of prevention could be easy and not expensive. Even before the pandemic, cervical cancer could have been a death sentence in Africa, now we have to commit because this gap between global North and global South mustn’t increase in the future”.

Cuamm and Ares Italia Partnership against covid-19 and for Global Health

Posted on Febbraio 8, 2021 by Redazione Cuamm

Doctors with Africa CUAMM and ARES Italia-Marche join forces in the fight against Covid-19 in the Marche region, with a partnership that will allow CUAMM to support the ARES Italia-Marche field hospital, consisting of 14 inflatable tents, providing care for 150 patients a day. As part of the “Italian Response to Covid-19” project, funded by the United States government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Doctors with Africa CUAMM will provide the field hospital with material needed for pre-triage and intake.

As part of the same project, Doctors with Africa CUAMM already supports the community hospitals of Chiaravalle, Cingoli, and Arcevia in the Marche. The field hospital will be the fourth hospital supported in the Marche region and the fifteenth in Italy to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

“CUAMM’s work in the Marche, as in the past in Arquata del Tronto where it acted during the 2016 earthquake, showed us the extraordinary importance and significance of national and international solidarity in the difficult times that have struck our community,” says Mario Caroli, Marche Regional Healthcare Representative and Director of the Hospital of Jesi Hospital. And he adds: “This lets us in the region of Marche, which has too often been afflicted by disasters, to strengthen and enhance our individual and collective commitment, to achieve objectives that will allow us to strengthen our ability to “give back” the help we received through further collaborations of CUAMM with our Campal Health Facility, used in situations of national and international disasters in the last 20 years.”

Don Dante Carraro, Doctors with Africa CUAMM’s director, adds:

“We started our work in the Marche, as in other areas of Italy, to make ourselves useful through our doctors who have returned to communities that have so often supported us with their generosity. With our distinguishing spirit of going to the furthest outposts, here we are also supporting the most outlying health facilities, which have not been spared by Covid-19. On the contrary, this virus shows us that we are all connected, that we can all find ourselves vulnerable in the face of a new health emergency. Today we are putting our experience in managing epidemics to work for Italy, and this partnership with ARES is also a sign of, and hope for, the future that we can together face health threats and meet needs on a global level. We are keeping our eye on Africa too, which has been so severely afflicted by ongoing calamities and emergencies, not least the cyclone in Mozambique and the instability in Ethiopia and the Central African Republic.“

With the agreement recently made, ARES and CUAMM have decided to start a strategic collaboration that both serves as an example and lays the foundations for future humanitarian interventions that are timely and effective when facing epidemics, natural disasters, and other calamities in Italy and Africa.