Mercyships's blog

On 26th November, Her Excellency, President Johnson Sirleaf attended a reception onboard the Africa Mercy.

The event, which was hosted by Mercy Ships to say thank you to local partners, attracted the United Nations Mission in Liberia Special Representative Ellen Margrethe Løj and a number of other UNMIL officials. Members of the American and German diplomatic corp and local church and community partners also attended.  read more »

On Friday, 21st November, Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf joined Mercy Ships and the entire community of Tenegar to celebrate the dedication of the Tenegar Clinic.

Mercy Ships and the people of Tenegar rebuilt the clinic over a 10-month period during the 2008 Liberian Field Service, and it will provide basic health care for over 6,000 people in the rural vicinity.  read more »

Like many other parts of Liberia’s medical infrastructure, anaesthesia in this post-conflict nation is in crisis. With only one anaesthesia provider per 100,000 people and only one training school in the entire nation, Liberia faces a major problem.

To combat this crisis, Dr. Keith Thomson from the UK held his second anaesthetist conference for Liberian medical workers in early November.  read more »

A series of exclusive images from onboard the world’s largest charity hospital were exhibited at Saatchi & Saatchi Design last night as part of the celebrations to mark the 30th Anniversary of Mercy Ships.

Tim Cole, Head of Photography at Saatchi and Saatchi Design, visited the ship last month where he captured truly life-changing moments of patients being treated onboard, as well as the daily life of the volunteer crew living on the Africa Mercy.   read more »

On October 27th, 2008, the Mercy Ships Mental Health Care team travelled to Liberia’s northern county of Lofa to facilitate a five-day workshop in Voinjama City, one of the worst affected areas of the civil war.

Dr. Lyn Westman, Mercy Ships Mental Health Care Programme Administrator, led the workshop for 200 Liberians, which emphasized behavioural counselling and the model of caring for the whole person.  read more »

In early November, a group of 36 men and women from different villages throughout Tenegar graduated from the seven month Strategic Health Initiative Programme (SHIPS), a Mercy Ships programme designed to address a community's individual health needs though education.

The topics of the programme were issues that the community had chosen: malaria, malnutrition, diarrhoea, and HIV/AIDS, as well as basic teachings on hand-washing, clean water, and the use of latrines.  read more »

Mercy Ships has provided hope and healing to thousands of Liberians this year, helping them walk, see, talk - to lead normal lives again - with free medical treatment.

But there are some people whose conditions Mercy Ships cannot heal, often people who have cancer or other terminal illnesses.

For these patients Mercy Ships has a programme of Palliative Care, a health service focused on relieving the mental and physical suffering of terminally ill patients.  read more »

November marks the completion of the first Mercy Ships Biomedical Technicians programme, which equipped six Liberian hospital workers with the skills to install, maintain, and repair complex medical equipment at five of Liberia’s hospitals.

Developed and led by Carlos Amaral of Brazil, the project ran from March through October and included courses in electricity, electronics and medical equipment, and computer training.  read more »

During the last seven weeks of the 2008 Field Service, the Mercy Ships Hospital Services will focus on eye surgeries, maxillo-facial procedures, and some general surgeries such as removing goitres. The hospital is running five operating rooms, and the ward is now fully staffed to work at such capacity.

“This year we’ve been settling onboard the Africa Mercy,” says Ans Rozema, Patient Services Coordinator. “We’re still searching for how to use this place the best way.”  read more »

In early October mental health professionals gathered at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s Stakeholders Conference to assess Liberia’s mental health needs and to gather information for a national mental health policy.

Around 60 representatives attended from Liberian universities, non-governmental organisations working in mental health, and various government and ministry entities.  read more »