Against the odds
The mission went ahead under travel advisories and security threats, with 140 volunteers.
The story
Keeping Hope Alive
The 2017 mission went to the Maroua Regional Hospital, in the capital of the Far North Region, in the foothills of the Mandara Mountains. The choice was driven by extreme need: years of Boko Haram attacks, a large population of refugees and displaced people, a broken health infrastructure and a physician to patient ratio of 1 to 50,000. There was no oncology or cardiology anywhere in the region.
Some volunteers withdrew because of the risks, and a week before the team arrived the market was bombed. Getting 140 volunteers and 5,000 pounds of equipment, drugs and supplies to Maroua took about two days by road or train. Still, over 3,400 people received medical, dental and pharmaceutical care, 140 surgeries were performed and more than 400 people were screened for cancer.
The MMPF eMed telemedicine platform was fully integrated for the first time, with a network of 90 practitioners across 4 continents and 5 countries supporting difficult cases. Three nurses at the Maroua Regional Hospital were trained in cervical cancer screening so the hospital could start its own program, and testing supplies were donated.
The celebration was tempered by what the team saw: malnourished children, an under-staffed hospital lacking basic supplies, and no cancer diagnosis or treatment in the entire region or its neighbors. Follow-up care for the most serious cases continued after the mission.
