Thanks to the contributions of our partners and the solidarity of other donors, Juan Ciudad ONGD has sent a new container of Humanitarian Aid to Ghana, specifically to St. John of God Hospital in Asafo, where more than 64,000 people are treated annually in outpatient clinics and 9,300 women in prenatal care.
The delivery of humanitarian aid is of great importance to support the hospital's ongoing operations, which has provided healthcare services for 60 years. According to the center's own reports, the two main causes of mortality are malaria and infectious respiratory diseases.
St. John of God Hospital in Asafo offers outpatient, laboratory, surgical, X-ray, maternity, ophthalmology, and pediatric vaccination services, among others. It has 218 permanent staff and is a reference point for the entire southwestern region of Ghana, also receiving patients from the Ivory Coast.
Loading the container for Asafo at the Juan Ciudad Humanitarian Aid warehouse in Carabanchel (Madrid).
The container sent by Juan Ciudad NGO to this center left the Humanitarian Aid warehouse in Madrid on February 9th and includes hospital supplies and equipment such as wheelchairs, treatment carts, stretchers, diapers, towels, and blankets, as well as non-perishable food and hygiene and cleaning products.
On this occasion, we would like to especially thank our partners for their support, as well as the contributions from the following donors: the San JosĂ© Institute Foundation in Carabanchel, the San Juan de Dios Center in Ciempozuelos, the JesĂșs Abandonado Foundation in Murcia, the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pamplona, and the Juan Ciudad NGO branch in Catalonia; as well as PRIM Suministros MĂ©dicos SA (Madrid), the Atabal Foundation (Badajoz), the Hospital de la Fe (Valencia), Ăpticas San Gabino, and H&M Spain.
The Order's first healthcare center in West Africa
The Brothers of St. John of God arrived in Ghana in 1956 and settled in a rural area belonging to the Sefwi tribe in the western region of the country. They took over a small dispensary that had been built by a Dutch missionary. That dispensary soon became a referral hospital for the entire area, currently boasting more than 100 beds and a dozen satellite dispensaries in its area of influence. St. John of God Hospital in Sefwi-Asafo serves approximately 60,000 people each year, offering general and emergency hospital services. Patients come from throughout the Sefwi Wiawso region, as well as from neighboring communities such as Juabeso-Bia, Akontombra, and Bibiani, and even from the Ivory Coast.
Ghana, the first country to become independent in sub-Saharan Africa
Ghana is a country located in West Africa with nearly 26 million inhabitants, and 30.51% of its population lives in multidimensional poverty, half of which is in extreme poverty.
Ghanaians come from seven major ethnic groups: Ashanti and Fanti (44%) in the south-central region, Ewe (13%) and Gaadangbe (8%) in the south and southeast, Mole-Dagbani (16%) in the northern savannas, and Guan (4%) and Gurma (3%) in the valleys and plateaus of the northeast.
It was the first country Europeans reached in sub-Saharan Africa, back in the 15th century, to trade gold and later slaves. In 1957, Ghana became the first West African colony to achieve independence.
According to the latest 2015 Human Development Report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ghana ranks 140th in the Human Development Index (HDI), which stands at 0.579. This translates to a life expectancy of 61.4 years at birth, a maternal mortality rate of 380 deaths per 100,000 live births, and 22.71% of children under the age of 5 suffering from malnutrition.
We compare these with those of Spain, which currently ranks 26th with an HDI of 0.876, has a life expectancy of 82.6 years, a maternal mortality rate of 4 deaths per 100,000 live births, and no records of malnutrition in children under 5 years of age.
Thanks to numerous government initiatives and the fact that it has not suffered any armed conflict in recent decades, Ghana is a country that has made significant progress in poverty reduction, especially in rural areas, being the first country in Africa to achieve Human Development Goal No. 1.
Consult here the Human Development Report 2015.
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By Adriana Castro, Communications Manager for Juan Ciudad NGO
