AFRICA – Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) has committed to improving healthcare in different countries in Africa including Sudan, Niger, Somalia, Gambia and Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, TİKA provided medical equipment to LeDeG Foundation, which has become a symbol in Ethiopia with its efforts for maternal and infant health.

Founded by Dr. Teguest Guerma, who was left to die due to her illness after the difficult birth experience of her mother, who married young, but managed to survive, LeDeG Foundation has become a symbol in the country thanks to the world-renowned efforts of its founder.

Guema is a former high-ranking official at the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Director-General of the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF).

TİKA provided LeDeG Maternal and Child Health Center and Midwifery College with a recovery room monitoring device, an oxygen concentrator, an electrolyte analyzer, a vaccine refrigerator, an airway suction device, and a blood gas analyzer.

In Gambia, TİKA has constructed a new Treatment Center for children being treated for clubfoot in Brikama District Hospital in the Gambia.

The treatment areas in Brikama District Hospital in the Gambia were improved in cooperation with the Gambia Clubfoot Foundation, which provides free treatment for clubfoot. Due to the lack of a suitable area for treatment in the hospital, a clinical room was used jointly on certain days of the week.

The center built by TİKA to prevent clubfoot disability has an area of 60 sq. meters and offers health services for children with clubfoot

In his speech, Ambassador Tolga Bermek stated that TİKA’s Banjul Office has implemented major development projects in many different industries in the Gambia since its establishment. He added that the treatment center contributed to the strengthening of the ties of solidarity between Türkiye and the Gambia.

The center built by TİKA to prevent clubfoot disability has an area of 60 sq. meters and offers health services for children with clubfoot and their families in a modern and sanitary environment.

In Somalia, TİKA has established a Patient Monitoring and Management System at the Banaadir Maternity and Children State Hospital in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

TİKA provided equipment and technical training for the establishment of a Patient Monitoring and Management System at the Banaadir Maternity and Children State Hospital, a state hospital that is located in Mogadishu and offers free or low-cost service, depending on the economic status of patients.

At the hospital, which was founded in 1976, patient records had been kept in hard copy ever since, which caused serious problems in monitoring the medical conditions of patients.

The electronic Patient Monitoring and Management System installed by Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) eliminated this problem. The purpose of the system was to strengthen the hospital’s infrastructure and to enable the hospital to serve more quickly and effectively under modern conditions.

TİKA provided equipment and technical training for the establishment of a Patient Monitoring and Management System at the Banaadir Maternity and Children State Hospital

Every year, nearly 9,000 babies are born in the 500-bed hospital, where nearly 60,000 patients, who are mostly low-income families and children, are treated.

In Niger, TİKA has equipped the HASENE Vocational High School for Health Services, which was built in the education complex owned by the HASENE Association, which provides education and dormitories for orphans and impoverished children in Niamey.

Niger ranks low on the health infrastructure adequacy indices published by international health organizations. Health services are insufficient in the country, and healthcare providers fail to meet the medical needs of citizens.

Health services are insufficient in the country, and healthcare providers fail to meet the medical needs of citizens

Especially people living in rural areas in departments other than Niamey, the capital, have difficulty in finding healthcare providers at hospitals and need to travel hundreds of kilometers for treatment.

TİKA continues its efforts to increase Niger’s human capacity in the field of health. The Agency equipped 5 classrooms, a meeting room, and an administrative unit at the HASENE Vocational High School for Health Services, which was built in the education complex owned by the HASENE Association, which provides education and dormitories for orphans and impoverished children in Niamey. The educational institution supported by TİKA will serve 200 students every year.

In Sudan, TİKA has provided modifications and equipment support for the Newborn Intensive Care Unit of Kalakla Turkish Hospital in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

Member of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, El Hadi Idris, Governor of Khartoum, Ahmed Osman Hamza, Turkish Ambassador to Khartoum, İsmail Çobanoğlu, TİKA’s Coordinator in Khartoum, Fulya Aslan, hospital personnel, and citizens attended the opening of the renovated unit.

Member of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, Idris said, “As Sudan government, the Governorship of Khartoum, and TİKA, we stand by you. I would like to take this opportunity to thank especially Türkiye and TİKA.”

Ambassador Çobanoğlu stated, “TİKA is actually an instrument for the humanitarian foreign policy of our country. They have carried out significant projects in all 18 of Sudan’s states, including Khartoum, since TİKA established its office here in 2006. They have tangibly contributed to the people of Sudan in various ways.”

Indicating that all of these are projects that have directly helped and affected the people of Sudan and been done with no thought of personal gain, Çobanoğlu expressed that this situation makes the projects more valuable.

TİKA’s Coordinator in Khartoum, Aslan noted that they have conducted over 750 projects in various fields such as agriculture, health, livestock, education, restoration, and development of civil and administrative infrastructures so far.

Aslan added that two service rooms, maternal-infant care and administrative rooms of the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, which had been trying to render services under inadequate physical conditions, were renovated and medical equipment, which are the basic needs of the newborn intensive care unit, such as the infant incubator, phototherapy device, and infant radiant warmer were provided.

The service capacity and quality of the unit, where a limited number of patients had been getting service, and treatment for some diseases hadn’t been provided due to inadequate equipment, were increased through the project. This ensured the monitoring and treatment of premature babies and full term babies with various health issues like infections, in modern conditions.

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