Freetown, Sierra Leone – June 18, 2024: The Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health, in collaboration with international charity Mercy Ships, have announced preparations for the upcoming phase of free life-changing surgeries and educational initiatives for the people of Sierra Leone set to begin in August.
A five-year-old soccer fan whose legs started to bow from the age of two can run and play with friends without pain after his life was transformed by a surgical charity.
Malang from Senegal had been to multiple hospitals in his home country in search of medical help without success.
“You are strong,” 5-year-old Malang’s dad, Sadio, would gently murmur to him during days of rigorous rehabilitation aboard the Global Mercy™. These words of unwavering support became a daily ritual lifting Malang up as he healed from orthopedic surgery.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – MAY 30, 2024: The imperative need for collaboration to tackle critical gaps in surgical care and education around the globe gained fresh recognition at a high-level panel discussion during the 77th World Health Assembly. (WHA).
This side event on May 30th highlighted the synergies between surgeons, policy makers, NGOs, academia and the private sector. The WHA’s main theme for the 77th assembly was ‘All for Health, Health for All’.
A baby girl became the first patient to receive free life-changing surgery from Mercy Ships in Madagascar since the international charity returned to the island nation. Ten-month-old Anjara’s surgery marks a significant landmark for the organization which is operating two hospital ships at once in Africa for the first time.
Geneva, Switzerland – Lindale, Texas, United States, 22 April 2024
A groundbreaking agreement between MSC Group, MSC Foundation and the charity Mercy Ships International prepares for the construction of a brand-new hospital ship that will deliver free surgery and training annually to thousands of people in Africa.
On 8 April, the chairman of MSC Group and MSC Foundation, Capt. Gianluigi Aponte, Diego Aponte, MSC Group President and Member of the MSC Foundation Board, and Mercy Ships Founder Don Stephens finalised an agreement to kickstart this new project with a generous anchor donation from MSC Foundation, reflecting the visionary leaders’ commitment to supporting access to critical healthcare for the generations to come.
2022 was not the first time that Ousmane had sought medical help for his daughter Aissatou. Since his little girl was born with a cleft lip four years earlier, he had been in pursuit of her healing. The family had visited multiple hospitals in Senegal, but none could provide the help they needed.
Others in his village started to lose hope, telling Ousmane that his daughter’s cleft lip was beyond repair.
It takes hundreds of volunteers to power Mercy Ships’ mission of following the model of Jesus to deliver safe and free surgeries via hospital ships.
Those volunteers need to be equipped with professional skills in medicine, seafaring, accounting, cooking, and many other fields.
They hail from countries around the world, and they must navigate long journeys, language barriers, visa procurement, and more logistics before they board the ship and begin serving.
Through it all, the Mercy Ships People & Culture (P&C) team is beside them, offering crewmembers the support and expertise they need to succeed.
TOAMASINA, MADAGASCAR – International charity Mercy Ships has announced the successful completion of the Patient Registration Phase in Madagascar. This is a critical milestone towards provision of surgical care to underserved communities, bringing hope and healing to countless lives.
Of all the birthdays he’d celebrated in his life, Emmanuel’s 43rd would turn out to be something truly extraordinary.
Just a few days after turning the page to a new year of life, a new chapter began. Emmanuel was wheeled into an operating room on board the Global Mercy™ hospital ship, where he became the very first patient to receive surgery during the field service in Freetown, Sierra Leone. There, in a surgery that took just 48 minutes, Emmanuel was freed from the tumor that had been growing on his neck for 4 years.