St Johns News Page
News on Poole Hospital's help in Sudan
Again, my thanks to Robert-I hope to be able to bring you regular updates from the Sudan.
Sudan again – The Poole Africa Link
Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has set up a link with Wau Hospital in Southern Sudan, and several members of the congregation kindly contributed to this charity at Christmastime. From their latest information leaflet: --
Currently one in ten children will die before the age of five, from chronic malnutrition as well as from many diseases which would be easy to treat in UK but are often fatal for lack of skills and equipment.
Around 70% of pregnant women who attend Wau Hospital need emergency Caesarean sections, but sterilisation and equipment are inadequate.
Just two qualified nurses are employed at the 300 bed hospital. Patients are cared for by nurses with limited basic training and by relatives who camp in the hospital grounds.
The Link is helping by setting up training programmes. Staff from Poole Hospital give their time and expertise by visiting Wau to carry out this training and to liaise with senior officials in the Government of Southern Sudan. The aim is to visit twice a year and to help bring Sudanese doctors to Poole for further specialist experience.
In the words of the midwife member of the team which visited Wau in November, “The midwives relished our training sessions and are desperate to learn more and improve their skills. This is why I believe the Link is so vital and so different from other ways of providing aid to a third world country”.