EMERGENCY and the Carter Center Collaborate in Mayo

On Wednesday 18 January, a delegation from the Carter Center visited our Paediatric Centre in Mayo, on the outskirts of Khartoum.

Headed by Paige Alexander, Chief Executive Officer, and Gregory Noland, Program Director, the visit took place in conjunction with Trachoma Screening Day as part of the Carter Center’s commitment to addressing neglected tropical diseases. The day was organised by EMERGENCY and the Carter Center to increase and strengthen the health services available to the people in Mayo, a suburb of Khartoum that developed out of a refugee camp, through collaborative action.

The screenings covered hundreds of patients from our clinic, whose access to a wide range of health services is possible thanks to our decades-long presence in Mayo.

Our Medical Coordinator, Loretta Charles, presented the Mayo clinic’s activities to Ms. Alexander and other delegates from the Center’s headquarters in Atlanta and country office in Khartoum.

The Carter Center expressed their appreciation for our work and a desire to strengthen the collaboration with EMERGENCY in Mayo, and potentially in other areas of the country, such as Nyala and Port Sudan.

During the day, we met with Hanan Ibrahim Bein, who took the opportunity to have an eye check, as she has been suffering for some time.

Hanan is 50 years old and lives in Mayo. She has 10 children, the eldest being 27 and the youngest 10.

She is a patient at our Mayo clinic, where she has been referred for paediatric and ante- and post-natal care services.

Her parents are from South Kordofan, as is her husband, but he has been living internally displaced in Mayo for decades.

Hanan learned about our clinic through our outreach and community mobilisation activities. She expresses her deep gratitude for our work, because our completely free services promote healthcare access for all people, regardless of ability to pay.

The screening day was very well attended, with more than 200 patients taking advantage of the presence of specialists to have an eye check-up. Maka Mohamed Ali, EMERGENCY’s health promoter in Mayo, tell us that the diversification of health services, through partnerships like those with the Carter Center, is fundamental to improving the health of the population of Mayo.