Help Comes to Togo

Hundreds of well-wishers lined up to welcome the Africa Mercy hospital ship and her crew into the Port City of Lomé, Togo, to begin a six-month assignment in the country.

This is the fourth visit by a Mercy Ship to Togo in the past twenty years. The West African nation of Togo ranks among the world's poorest countries – currently 159th out of 182 nations tracked by the 2009 Human Development Index.

Access to health care is inadequate or unaffordable. Out of every 1,000 live births, 140 children will die before the age of five, life expectancy is only 58 years, and there is only one doctor for every 28,500 people.

During the hospital ship’s six-month assignment in port, hundreds of volunteers from around the world will carry out a wide range of medical and community development services.

Surgeries to be offered by Mercy Ships include maxillo-facial, cleft lip and palate, tumours, flesh-eating noma, cataracts, obstetric fistula, and orthopaedic cases.

Within the ship’s six state-of-theart operating theatres, specialist volunteers will provide free services including over 350 specialised surgeries for patients affected by maxillofacial deformities such as tumours, injuries, infections, and cleft lip and palate.

The Mercy Vision project aims to help reduce the number of blind people in Togo, and will provide over 1,500 specialised surgeries to correct blindness due to cataracts, as well as over 100 surgeries to correct blindness due to pterygium.

Off ship teams will also set up dental clinics in local communities to treat over 5,000 people affected by tooth decay, infections of the mouth, and small oral lesions.

All services are offered at no charge to patients, thanks mostly to the many donors who support the ongoing work of Mercy Ships.