Mercy Ships serves its partner nations using a doubled-edged approach to bringing hope and healing – providing free and safe surgeries to those in need on board hospital ships, and empowering local healthcare providers with effective training and mentorship leading to better care for the people they serve. Mercy Ships drives the latter through our Education, Training and Advocacy (ETA) program, which involves identifying and understanding the gaps that exist in the health landscape of the country before contributing to the bridging of such gaps using training and advocacy.

“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. 

When a father passes away, a son struggles to remember as much about his dad as he can. Some of Hassan’s final memories of his father involved living with him while contracting the same condition that ultimately took his dad’s life: complications from an abdominal hernia.