The situation in Ukraine is getting worse day by the day. Countless people were internally displaced. One million people have fled their homes, uprooted from their land. Among these, hundreds of thousands took the road to the Polish border, carrying only a suitcase or bag. It is very likely that more and more people will be forced to flee the terrible reality of the violence caused by war, unless the conflict ceases instantaneously.
Faced with the massive evacuation of Ukrainian refugees to Poland, the Polish government, various charities, individuals, each in its own way is trying to rescue emigrants
Aid to refugees was initially organised in a very spontaneous way. In thousands of places set up specifically for this purpose, people brought basic necessities of life. At present, the biggest problem is to provide them with adequate accommodation.
In this dramatic situation, Salute e Sviluppo, in collaboration with other Camillian and non-camillian organizations, is supporting the emergency action promoted by the Polish Camillian Province in response to the Ukrainian crisis.
The Province, which works in coordination with Caritas, is organizing two important interventions to welcome part of the flow of fleeing Ukrainian people arriving in the cities of Poland:
– provide psychosocial support for refugee children who are welcomed by families around the Camillian parish of Tarnowskie Góry.
– provide temporary accommodation for 55 families who have fled, with the reopening of the seminary in Burakow (Lomianki), and help families who choose to start a new life in Poland to find a new flat and a new job in order to achieve an independent life.
To do this we also need you. Click here, choose the method of donation and enter in the reason HELP UKRAINE
“Health” is the priority field of intervention of SeS. The right to health protection and access to health care are fundamental human rights; yet the relationship between poverty, marginalisation and access to services in developing countries often remains misunderstood or neglected in health policies and development interventions.
Over the years, in accordance with the Global Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we have built and strengthened health facilities for vulnerable populations; expanded the the catchment area of services at territorial level; provided adequate medical instruments and equipment, improving the services offered at quantitative level; trained local health personnel, increasing the level of skills and the quality of the services provided.
After having implemented a large number of initiatives in cooperation partner countries and having contributed significantly to their growth, Salute e Sviluppo establish the AMOC Mission Found– Camillians Charity Health Insurance (approved by the Board of Directors on 26.11.2021), as an additional tool to help people and communities in developing countries, in conditions of severe socio-economic vulnerability, to access health services.
The purpose of the fund is to protect health and extend basic health cover as far as possible, seeking to reduce social inequalities, with a focus on child health. In particular, the Fund has two objectives:
Overall Objective: to contribute to the improvement of the social and health conditions of the populations of developing countries, where Salute e Sviluppo operates through the implementation of international cooperation initiatives.
Specific Objective: to guarantee free access to health services and treatment to children in developing countries (0-14 years old).
The Fund operates through the provision of a reimbursement (in part or total) of healthcare costs paid by existing healthcare facilities in the countries of cooperation – belonging to and/or managed by the Camillians – for paediatric patients (0-14 years old) who will benefit from the services totally free of charge.
The AMOC Mission Fund, established by SeS, can be financed by all stakeholders – whether individuals or companies – who recognise in it a social responsibility to fight poverty and to greater protection of human rights.
Non-anonymous donors will be eligible for tax relief in accordance with the law.
There are many ways to support our activities: your donation is the easiest way to maximise the impact of our projects!
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Salute e Sviluppo ONG – Al fianco dei Camilliani nel mondo
Piazza della Maddalena, 53 – 00186 Roma
Tel. 0689982151/52/53/54
email: info@salutesviluppo.org
I would like to invite you to go on a beautiful virtual journey around the world with me to celebrate together the 25 years of Salute e Sviluppo. Don’t worry about the cost, I pay for everyone, as it is a virtual journey. We can visit many countries, even if I can’t remember them all since the list is long. Please fasten your seat belts and let’s start immediately from Turin, where Salute e Sviluppo was born 25 years ago, from the imagination of Fr. Efisio Locci, on September 09, 1996. It started from the idea “to go out into the world and heal the sick.” It began to take the first steps of his existence, an essential steps because it also includes the hospital in Haiti. Upon the invitation of the General of the Order of the Camillians P. Frank Monks (on 03 December 2001)we move to Rome to give the organization an international dimension, proper to the Order. In Rome, everything is great! Here, the enormous preparation for its recognition to operate, such as the acquisition of its legal personality (July 08, 2002) and the recognition as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), under the decree of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which enables it to promote and implement international projects in collaboration with the Ministry (March 26, 2003). Upon completion of the bureaucratic procedures, we started working by engaging all our skills and knowledge.
Salute e Sviluppo was born to be closer to missionaries, who are the most significant development factor in the history of poor countries. Our core areas of intervention are people’s health and human development with particular attention for health and hygiene, nutrition and schooling, agriculture and livestock, without precluding the field of development, rights and peace. Our motto is “let’s take care of health and we will increase human development”. The geography of our activities consists of the five continents.
Hospital of Djougou – Benin
The first part of our intercontinental trip visits the projects carried out in the first 10 years and includes 33 projects in Africa: 1 hospital in Benin (in Djougou); 5 projects in Burkina Faso(development for women, enhancement of traditional medicine, Zootechnical development, agro-food development, industrial development for the polishing and packaging of rice); 19 projects in Kenya (training and prevention for Migori students, support for Nairobi slum children, breeding for Nkubu hospital, drinking water for Nkubu hospital, agricultural development for Nairobi slum women, assistance for terminally ill patients with AIDS, training for women in the slum of Nairobi, fight against HIV, mill for the widows of Tabaka, a hope for the sick of Nkubu, solar energy for Nkubu, livestock development for the women of Karungu, fight against malnutrition in Wajir, fruits and vegetables garden development for the women of Karungu, a greenhouse for women in the slums of Nairobi, fight against poverty in the South Imenti district, food support for the schools in Nyanza, access to sanitation for Gunga); we can also visit 1 project in Madagascar (schooling for leper children); 5 projects in the Central African Republic (primary school in Bossemptélé, hospital start-up, mother-child centre, children’s health service, mother-child clinic); 1 maternal and child hospital in Somalia; 1 well for the hospital and the neighbourhood in Lomé – Togo.
Maternity and gynaecology, surgery, operating theatre, delivery rooms and offices at Karungu Hospital – Kenya
I hope you are enjoying this trip because we are now going to visit South America and Asia. The first stop is Brazil visiting 4 projects (training and reintegration of women, social reintegration of single mothers, tejiendo la vida, training and reintegration of women in Quixadà); let’s jump to see 1 project in Colombia (hydroponic cultivation with the elderly people); and a trip to Peru for 1 project (assistance to people with AIDS).
We will now leave Latin America and we will move to Asia for 11 projects. We begin with the visit to Myanmar with 2 projects (rescue to the victims of cyclone Nargis and professional training for girls); a visit to the Philippines with 2 projects (strengthening of the San Camillo Center and aid to the Aetas tribal community); and a long journey to the immense China with 1 project (Scholarships for the villages of Liaoning). Many emotions are coming back on the waves of my memories, thinking of the moment I met the catholic people coming from the cities around the imperial city in the far North of China! The universality of Christianity is a reality that you experience as the breath of humanity, with intense and unforgettable emotion.
As you can understand, our work constantly always adapts to the situations, habits and customs of peoples and their political sensitivity. We are interested in helping people keeping into consideration their backgrounds and fragilities. All other aspects are not our concern. We always wish that we can do more. Unfortunately, there are so many problems and difficult situation in this world and we hope we could help them all, but in the reality, we do what we can, proudly, and we always try to do our best, and that is what matter the most.
If you are not tired, let’s go through the second part of the journey to visit the other 36 projectscarried out in the next 10 years of intense commitment. We especially focused to African countries. Each country has its own characteristics, its beauties, its riches and its infinite poverty. The only recommendation is: never give up. Cooperation is made up of small and large things, but all of them are precious. Any help we can give is a great treasure for the needy who receive them; it is a small effort for us but a tremendous gift for him. Fatigue will soon disappear, the good done will remain and the Good Lord will make it eternal.
Rice field in Bagré – Burkina Faso
First stop is inBurkina Faso with 11 completed projects and 2 on the way, a poor country eager for progress. In this country, there are also fearful episodes of terrorism in the North and also not far from our work area. Our effort is to implement food production facilities, increase schooling and build a hospital.
We have built a farm of over 60 hectares to cultivate rice, corn and other cereals; built canals for water irrigation, with submersible pumps in the large public canal, operated by photovoltaic panels. The pumps carry the water into our distribution channels. The farm is well equipped with a well for drinking water, facilities for staff, warehouses, workshop and a covered parking spaces for one truck, 3 tractors, 2 milling machines, one combine harvester, 2 bulldozers, one bulldozer, plows, grader, fertilizer and other equipment.
There is a barn for 60/100 milking cows, with fodder equipped with a milking parlor, a cooling and milk storage room, and facilities for staff and the veterinarian. Also here the electricity is generated with a photovoltaic system, generator and public lighting line. We have created 3 large warehouses for cereals, fruits, and vegetables, food processing, and packaging in the industrial center. The milking center is equipped to analyze milk and dairy products: here too, the electricity is supplied by the public network, by a generator, and by photovoltaic systems. The farms are in Bagré, province of Tenkodogo, which national planning has chosen as a pole of national agro-food production for the whole country. Also in Bagré, there is the drinking water processing plant that is entrusted to women.
A school in Tenkodogo – Burkina Faso
Other projects to visit in Bagré, Tenkodogo and Garango are: 2 nursery schools, 2 primary schools, 2 secondary schools: first four years and second three years, an arts and crafts centres with 6 sections for 6 trades. For schools we need to keep in consideration that each classroom of the nursery and primary classes accommodates about 80/90 children, the secondary schools welcome 50 children per class; the arts and crafts classes welcome 50 young people. All the schools are in the diocese of Tenkodogo and are projects carried out in collaboration with the Bishop Prosper Kontiebo. Once built and furnished, the local partner handles the school buildings.
Let’s visit in Kenya (4 projects) the great aqueduct for the 15,000 inhabitants of Karungu. Water is taken from Lake Victoria, pushed into the hills with large pumps, purified and filtered in three huge reinforced concrete tanks and sent to the Karungu area, spread for more than 5 km, along which are the kiosks for the water distribution. This project allows all the site inhabitants to access drinking water, while previously, they drew directly from the polluted lake. Other projects are: maternal and child health in the Imenti South district; fight against cancer for the female population of Karungu; food self-sufficiency for the women of Wajir in partnership with the Camillian nuns, in a semi-deserted area on the border with Somalia, in the former Annalena Tonelli center martyred by the Somalis. Insecurity also prevails in this area.
There are also: a small project in Pakistan for the Christian minority and one in Togo against sickle cell anaemia and one in Vietnam for access to drinking water and against cancer for children and the population, because the water of Mekong’s groundwater is polluted by the excessive use of pesticides for rice production.
Health workers in Bossemptélé – Central African Republic
We take off again and go to the Central Africa Republic, today the poorest country in the world; it was once called the Switzerland of Africa. A beautiful country, full of forests, a population of peaceful nature. Since it gained independence (it was a French colony) it has always been governed by generals, even though it was a republic by name. Today there is an elected president, but there are Russian soldiers from the Wagner group who preside over the country and the government. The successive coups d’etat have impoverished the country, made it insecure, plundered enormous riches of the subsoil. In the revolution and civil war of recent years there have been, out of a population of 10 million, two and a half million refugees in neighboring countries, 50% of school and health buildings as well as private homes have been destroyed. The roads are bad; the population has nothing to eat except cassava. Security does not exist. General services do not exist. It is difficult to understand how the population survives. Our trips are also unsafe; it is our risk and danger. For the Italian government the country is absolutely insecure.
Bossemptélé Hospital – CAR
In this context we have carried out over 15 projects,a hospital with 120 beds: surgical hospitalization, renovation, and furnishing of the operating rooms; construction of the medical department; refurbishment and furnishing of ophthalmology and dentistry clinics; construction and furnishing of the neonatal ward; construction of the pediatric department; building of the maternity department and delivery block with operating room for caesareans; construction of the administration department; construction of the department for guests and volunteers; construction of the first aid, administrative reception equipment; financing of hospital health services; an increase of health services in three villages with the mobile clinic once or twice a week. Other aids are the photovoltaic system and the new generator for the whole hospital (we are 200 km from public electricity) and various containers with hospital equipment, furnishings, machinery, the purchase of ambulances, machines, a tractor, a pickup truck. There are also all the projects carried out for the population: food emergency; we feed children; school food; safe motherhood; economic and nutritional empowermentfor women; health and hygiene training for the population; construction of three wells for drinking water; State Diploma Nursing School under construction, which is the third largest nursing school in the country.
The support activities for the Camillian missionary community of Bossemptélé in CAR began with the courageous opening of the new mission of the Benin province. The mission included the small hospital of the Carmelite Sisters but it never opened due to the death of their sister-doctor in a road accident. Today’s mission comprises the John Paul II Hospital and the only parish in the town and the surrounding villages. The characteristic of the mission is the great poverty, the isolation, the insecurity, the commendable courage of the Carmelite nuns and of the Camillian religious. Bossemptélé is the Vice prefecture, it is a settlement 200 km away from electricity; there is no drinking water, electricity or gas. It has an elementary school and a primary school but that is not sufficient for the number of children. For that reason, the Sisters have made a kindergarten, a primary school and the first three years of secondary school. The war has endangered the lives of our confreres, who were heroic in staying in to care for the sick. During the war, the spaces of the hospital, the spaces of the nuns’ schools gave shelter to two thousand Muslim people. The two communities of Carmelite Sisters and Camillian Religious worked heroically without stopping. The p. Bernard Kinvi Anani, director of the hospital, received the Alison De Forges Award from Human Rights Watch in 2014 for courage in protecting dignity and human rights. This award is also a recognition for the Communities of Camillians and Carmelite Sisters who have assisted all the needy with the risk of their lives, bringing 1,500 Muslims to safety across the border of Cameroon. The Carmelite nuns and Camillian religious were the heroes of the Christian, witness of Christ’s love for man, in the poor and isolated town of Bossemptélé in Central Africa. I want to thank in person all the people that in the last 25 years have cooperated with us in order to help the people in need of the world. In 25 years we have helped the sick, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, educate the children. We have increased justice and peace in the world.
F. Efisio Locci
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Thanks to the initiative “Health and Nutrition for the vulnerable population of the Sub-prefecture of Bossemptélé“, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS)continues the commitment of Salute e Sviluppo to increase access to basic essential services in the Central African Republic. The project, launched on 27 September 2021, is in continuity with previous emergency initiatives in support of the population of Bossemptélé, with the aim of ensuring access to health, food and water for vulnerable groups.
The Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the poorest countries in the world. The serious humanitarian crisis that has affected the country for years continues to have dramatic repercussions on the living conditions of the population.
At the health level, the country is in a chronic state of emergency due to the lack of adequate drugs and equipment and the lack of qualified and specialized personnel. Health facilities outside the capital are almost non-existent and recent clashes between rebel forces and government militias have severely limited their ability to provide care, particularly to women and children.
In the Bossemptélé prefecture, the rate of access to health services is only 45%. The Saint John Paul II Hospital is the only hospital in the city. Patients (including urgent cases) are received in a small, single room where consultations are also carried out. The space for first aid is definitely inadequate and insufficiently equipped. Only in five villages are there poste de santé, first level facilities located in remote and peripheral areas, in which “securiste” (nurses who have no qualifications) work, and which operate mainly on a community basis. They are in a precarious condition, consisting of one or two small rooms, with roofs and walls full of cracks and large openings that cause flooding in case of rain, where people give birth on the floor in the absence of beds and chairs. Most of them are unfurnished, lacking consumables and medical equipment. Some are used as a night shelter when not on duty.
In this fragile context, the project aims to strengthen the health and nutritional care of local communities, increasing the availability, quality and coverage of the services offered in hospitals and villages and ensuring access to food and water.
What the project will actually do for the benefit of about 25,000 people in the intervention area will act on two interconnected levels.
In the Hospital is planned to:
Rehabilitate the first reception room and consultations
Provide medicines and consumables
Organise training sessions for health personnel
Build and equip a room for food preparation
Distribute daily meals to patients
In the villages is planned to:
Rehabilitate three dispensaries and build a new poste de santé
Training the poste de santé operators
Strengthening the mobile clinic and information education and communication (IEC) service on hygiene and nutrition
The project will run for one year. We will keep you updated soon on the progress of the activities and its results that we will achieve!
BOARDS OF DIRECTORS: on the left Fr. Carlo Mangione, P. Ignacio Santaolalla, F. Felice de Miranda, F. Efisio Locci, and Mrs Mariella Oggioni
Salute e Sviluppo (www.salutesviluppo.org) is an Italian Non-profit Association established in 1996 by the General Consulta of the Order of the Ministers to the Sick (Camillians or Clerics Regular). The NGO is inspired by the evangelical values and charism of St. Camillus de Lellis and its mission aims to promote cooperation projects for developping countries in health and development fields around the world, especially in countries where the Camillian Order and the Female Religious Institutes of the Camillian Charismatic Family operate. For twenty-five years, under the presidency of its founder, Father Efisio Locci, SeS has promoted development projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, mainly in the socio-healthcare sectors (building hospitals, medical centres), education (literacy and training) and in the primary sector (agriculture and livestock) in partnership with the Provinces, Vice-Provinces and Delegations of the Order, active in over 40 countries, with their health care infrastructures. SeS works mainly in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam. and still maintains a connection in Benin, Togo, Somalia, Thailand, Colombia, Brazil and Peru.
Since 2001, Salute e Sviluppo has been recognised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and has been registered in the AICS (Italian Development Cooperation Agency) list of civil society organisations (CSOs) , eligible to submit international cooperation initiatives for developing countries.
In June 2021, Father Efisio Locci resigned as President to the General Assembly due to health reasons.
In the General Order’s House, headquarters of Salute e Sviluppo, on 14th September 2021 was held the ordinary assembly to renew the association’s executive board, in accordance with the statute.
For the new three-year period 2021-2024, the new executive board members elected are: Father Felice de Miranda, Father Efisio Locci, Brother José Ignacio Santaolalla Sáez, Brother Carlo Mangione and Mrs Mariella Oggioni. Within the Council, it is remarkable the presence of four Camillian religious, two of whom are General Consultors of the Order. In accordance with the statute of the association, the assembly also named Dr Peppino Profeta as the sole auditor, duly registered in the register of auditors, as the guarantor of the association’s work.
Afterwords, the new Board of Directors met up again to designe the position within the Council. Father Felice de Miranda has been elected as President and Legal Representative, B.José Ignacio Santaolalla Sáez as Vice-President, and B. Carlo Mangione as Secretary.
On behalf of the Camillian Order, we would like to thank Father Locci and wishes to the new Council success in carrying out the activities of the Association with renewed commitment.
In Bossemptélé village (Ohuam Pendé Region, CAR), Salute e Sviluppo’s work continued in the health sector through the implementation of a further emergency initiative called “Strengthening of the health services of the John Paul II Hospital in Bossemptélé”,co-financed by AICS – Italian Agency for International Cooperation.
The project, started on December 8th 2019 and concluded on May 7th 2021, achieved its objective of “improving the access to health services for vulnerable people in Bossemptélé Subprefecture, by streghtening the John Paul II Hospital and ensuring adequate and quality response to the territory’s needs, also through a widespread work of assistance and care in the neighbouring villages of the Subprefecture.
Thanks to the project activities we were able to provide adequate supply of medicines and to pay part of the cost for the healthcare staff. Despite the pandemic situation, overall we were still able to provide the sefvices trough all Covid-19 period, however with small shortage of services between March 2020 and April 2020. in addition, the hospital has been equipped with various medical instruments and equipment, including HIV and Covid-19 tests, improving the effectiveness of healthcare services. To date, a total of 11.113 patients have been treated, of which 7.721 are women and 3.393 are men (with a monthly average of 654 hospital admissions).
Given the impossibility of carrying out the specialized training activities on site – due the Covid-19 pandemic emergency and the restrictions imposed on mobility at international level – trainings have been carried out between the end of January and April 2021, through the “distance learning methology”. In particular, training have covered the following subjects: orthopaedic surgery, anaesthesia, neonatology/pediatrics, diagnostic imaging (radiography and ultrasound). The training activity involved a total of 22 health workers, 9 women and 13 men.
With regards to coordination meetings within dispensaries and health centres in the area, have been involved five managing director of the five “Poste de Santé” located in the neighbouring villages on the Bossemptélé-Bozum axis and on the Bossemptélé-Bouar axis. These meetings have been crucial to improve coordination between the hospital and the public dispensaries with regard to the care of the patients and to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with ‘traditional practitioners’, clarifying the role of traditional medicine, without interferring with modern medicine. Finally, thanks to the training on the job on drug management, all participants improved their skills and increased their knowledge on key issues, essential for their future autonomy at the local level.
In order to extend the health services to the communities, a mobile clinic service has been organized in the villages with the use of an ambulance (purchased thanks to Aics funding) with the presence of a health team made up of two nurses and two hospital counselors. The activity has been carried out twice a week, reached 3.346 people, of which 2.314 women, 1.122 men (and 2.286 children). The health service, since its inception, has always been fully functional and in full compliance with Covid-19 presidential provision, carrying out home visits aimed at health care and psychological support.
The Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities on “health and hygiene” issues represented a key component of the action, reaching the active participation of 4.043 people, of which 2.182 women and 1.861 men. Once a week, two social educators from the Hospital have been going into the villages and communities dealing with the following topics: prevention of the main endemic diseases and infections, malnutrition, prenatal consultations, child protection, birth declaration, the importance of schooling, etc. . Due to the high interest showed by the participants reganding this topics, we have decided to involve 30 women (instead of the expected 5) in the “au pair education” activity. Thanks to more people involved the project would get more well-know also for the other inhabitant of the village.
Regarding the implementation of all activities and the achievement of all project’s goals, both the work from the local partners (The John Paul II Hospital and the Cammillians Community in CAR) and the support of all the local stakeholder (Ministry of Health and Population, ASSOMESCA Association, the Order of Carmelite Sisters) were fundamental.
The project has laid the foundations for further development and growth actions in the territory, in synergy with other initiatives carried out by SeS in CAR. At social level, all activities represent important cognitive tools for safeguarding community health in the medium-long term, producing a tangible impact on the target groups, also promoting common sensitivity and responsibility.
