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Solidarity
Summer 2002
07/17/2002
Guinea Bissau
A Mobile Paediatric Unit in the "Port of Balanta".
Beside the paediatric surgery at the Bissau Hospital, a mobile unit has been implemented to reach the children of the poorest areas: the unit began its activity in the port, among the coal sellers belonging to the Balanta ethnic group.
Hundreds people come every day at the surgery of the Bissau Hospital. From last year, we know that there are also many poor people in the suburbs of the city who cannot reach the hospital by themselves. Therefore we created a mobile unit, a small surgery on a motor vehicle, that will reach the poorest areas of Bissau to meet the children who need treatment.
We started from the "Port of Balanta". There go the coal sellers who come from the south and the inner part of the country. Some of them sell the coal and then come back to their village, others continue living in the port.
The area of the port is very poor and the hygienic conditions are precarious. There are no real houses, but barracks or shelters. Poverty is clear from the children's dresses: no shoes, dirty and worn-out clothes.
The first 100 children we visited have infectious diseases of the skin (scabies,...) and from intestinal parasites. Many are undernourished.
Non of them came to the hospital's surgery las year. Therefore we decided to create a mobile unt in this area. We will come back here several times in the week.
Fabio
Riccardi
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