Australian medical team doing great work in Namibia

In Namibia, outside of the capital Windhoek, there is only one qualified anaesthetist for the whole country (population 2.5 million).

My friend Andrew Ottaway, an Australian Anaesthetist from Tasmania, contacted me recently seeking support for some of the great work he does in Africa. His words follow:

Hi Jery,

I am currently in Namibia leading a medical team of 6 to provide teaching and training to hospital doctors in the far north of the country, near the border with Angola. While we are busy here, there is a town less than an hours drive from here with a population of around 230,000 (which is a little less than Hobart) where they do 6000 deliveries per year (twice as many as Hobart).

The hospital has only 4 doctors, and they do not have the capacity to perform a Caesarean section if needed. So that means if things don’t go to plan during labour, the mother is put in an ambulance and sent 45 mins to an hour to where she can be helped. Often it is too late for the baby, and sometimes even for the mother. This situation is also not unique for Namibia - hundreds of mothers and thousands of babies are dying here every year because they can’t get the care they need at their local hospitals.

This is something we are trying to fix through education and training. We can visit and perform surgery and save a life, but if we can teach the local doctors to perform the needed surgery many more lives can continue to be saved after we have gone.

I know we all support many worthy causes, often privately, and am somewhat reluctant to ask your support. If you’d like to know more about what Andrew and his team are doing, or would like to support please follow this link https://www.gofundme.com/AfricaSurgery