Democratic Republic of Congo: HEAL Africa

HEAL Africa

HEAL Africa is a treatment and teaching hospital run by Congolese medical doctors, which specializes in obstetric and trauma-caused fistula repair, and orthopedic care. The 213 bed hospital operates with 16 doctors, 22 nurses, 14 specialists, and 40 part-time counsellors and pastors. There is also an extensive outreach program of community health care. The majority of people served by HEAL Africa are extremely poor and have no other hope for medical attention.

Basic healthcare services – diagnosing and treating disease and disability – are only one part of the holistic approach of the HEAL Africa treatment and training program. The attention given to the whole person includes spiritual, psychological, and social  care. Women who are rejected by their families because of the stigma associated with rape and fistula damage are provided with counselling and a safe community where they can work and live. Literacy, job and life skills training are available to those seeking social reintegration. Assistance is provided to those dealing with AIDS, and education about safer sexual practices is promoted in the community.

The hospital provides patients with the highest quality of health care in the region and trains many Congolese doctors to do the same. Staff trained at HEAL Africa are equipped with expertise and the supplies and tools they need to go out to work in rural areas all over the DRC and Rwanda. By working together, HPIC and HEAL Africa ensure the provision of free care to patients who could not otherwise afford it, and contribute to the training and equipping of medical staff throughout the area.

DR Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo is approximately the size of Quebec and Ontario combined, with a population of about 60 million. Life expectancy is falling and was reported in 2007 as 46 years.

Twenty years ago in the DRC, the most common health problems were tropical diseases such as malaria. Wounds were caused by farming and auto accidents. When women had fistulas, it was due to poor obstetric care in rural areas. HIV/AIDS was just showing up as the tip of an unknown iceberg.

Today at HEAL Africa there are wards full of men who have been shot by militias. Other wards house women, even children, who have been raped by soldiers. HIV/AIDS is common. How did this happen?

Although the war is officially over, conflict is a way of life in the DRC. At least
5 million Congolese have died since 1996, mostly in conflicts over natural resources. Ongoing tension from the Rwandan genocide has also crossed the border and spilled over into the DRC. The region of North Kivu is the most severely affected.

This helps explain the bullet wounds in HEAL Africa. It also sets the background to the rape of both the country and its women. Rape is not a new war tool, but the armies in these wars have found it very useful. When you rape an African woman you destroy her family. Then you can do whatever you please with whatever society is left.

HPIC and HEAL Africa

HPIC provides regular container shipments of medical supplies to HEAL Africa each year, and the container is donated to the hospital for extra storage and program space. The partnership between HPIC and HEAL Africa contributes especially to the training of Congolese doctors, outreach in rural communities, and treating women affected by gender-based violence.

Accomplishments over the first five years of the project include:

• Several hundred thousand courses of treatment provided
• Provided support to 8 hospitals and medical centres, in Kinshasa, Goma and several rural areas
• Supplied HEAL Africa rural outreach and training programs for DRC and Rwanda, staffed by Congolese medical professionals
• Enabled indigenous staff to expand holistic programs providing spiritual, physical, and social care, as well as life-skills training, and social reintegration, leading to transformation in individuals and communities
• Donated hospital equipment to support capacity building and sustainability of hospital operations.

The ongoing project has three main goals: treatment, outreach and transformation.

Treatment:
HPIC donates the surgical supplies and equipment which make fistula and other surgeries possible. Beneficiaries include women suffering from the consequences of sexual violence, children undergoing surgery to recover from disabilities such as clubfoot, and trauma patients, especially young men injured through motorcycle accidents or gun wounds. 

Outreach:
The HPIC – HEAL Africa partnership also supplies the outreach programs in and around Goma, and provisions are used to equip the Congolese medical staff trained at HEAL Africa. These medical practitioners are then able to go out into the rural communities and provide safe and high quality health care for those who would otherwise have no possibility of receiving care. The medical personnel benefit too. Being equipped to do their jobs effectively is a major factor in job satisfaction and incentive to stay in their country and put their skills to much-needed use.

Transformation:
Patients who are treated at HEAL Africa find restoration physically, socially, spiritually and economically. With the added medical aid resources provided by HPIC, more people who cannot afford care are served, rather than being turned away. These individuals then return to their families and communities as contributing members.