At the beginning of this 2023, we told you about the project that we at Salute e Sviluppo decided to initiate in Georgia: ‘Solar energy for a GREEN mission!’, which consisted of the purchase and installation of no less than 90 solar panels of about 300 watts each, with the associated energy production and storage facility.

Seven months after the start of activities, we have achieved all the goals we set ourselves: the panels have been installed and at the moment the green system is fully functional and provides the Tblisi Day Care and Rehabilitation Centre with clean energy for all its activities.

The Day Care Centre is a key health centre for the Georgian capital and surrounding areas. Founded by the Camillians at the beginning of the millennium, in little more than 20 years it has distinguished itself as a centre of excellence for specialised care and rehabilitation cycles for all those suffering from serious disabilities – not only physical. Each patient is followed with special attention by a team of specialists, who accompany the patient through physiotherapy, speech therapy and psychology.

Thanks to our project, not only will the centre incur reduced costs to supply itself with the energy it needs for all its activities, thus maintaining standards of healthcare excellence, but it will also have the opportunity to pioneer the use of renewable funds, making itself truly sustainable.

We are very happy to have participated in this project, which sees us at the forefront, not only in supporting an excellent health centre, but also in promoting a green culture.

The ‘Bed Replacement for the Chanthaburi Rest Home – Camillian Social Centre’ project run by the Camillian delegation in Thailand has just ended. The home houses 120 elderly people, some of whom pay a modest fee, while others receive medical care completely free of charge.

On 1 August, we decided to inaugurate this project following the request of Fr. Renato Attrezzi, Director of the centre, who told us of the absolute urgency of proceeding with the replacement of the beds of the 120 in-patients, which had not only become too old and uncomfortable, but were also no longer functional for the medical staff, having also rusted due to the humid climate of the area.

We welcomed the request of Fr. Attrezzi and we found in the Cav. Silvano Pedrollo a valuable supporter of the initiative: thanks to his generosity we were able to purchase most of the requested beds, which have just been installed in the centre.

We at Salute e Sviluppo are very happy to have contributed to the success of this operation and look forward to continuing to collaborate with this reality in support of the centre’s activities for the most fragile.

The project ‘Purchase of laboratory equipment for the Luigi Tezza Health Centre in Kokumbo’ has just been completed. As we have already told you, Kokumbo is a village in the Ivory Coast, a country where there are still many shortages, especially in rural areas. For more than 10 years, the Daughters of St. Camillus have been active in the country, carrying out mainly health and welfare projects.

In 2009, they founded the Blessed Luigi Tezza Health Centre between the villages of Kokumbo and Niamkey Konankro, about 50 km from the capital Yamoussoukro. Over the years, this health centre has become a point of reference for the local population, who are able to benefit from the support of the missionaries and medical consultations for numerous illnesses, including Buruli Ulcer, a disease that continues to pose a great danger.

To increase the efficiency of the centre, Health and Development received a request for help at the beginning of the year, which we were very happy to accept by purchasing the various pieces of equipment needed to carry out a series of in-depth analyses for the early diagnosis of numerous diseases: a water distiller, an autoclave for sterilising working instruments, a water bath, a thermostat and an ichroma II immunology reader, which provides more accurate values for immunological examinations, a laminar flow hood, which protects the operator and the working environment from pathogenic microorganisms.

Let’s hope that these instruments can really improve the living and health conditions of all those most in need!

Not long ago we told you the story of the little Edrick and Samueltwo very young children (1 year old and 4 years old), unfortunately suffering from congenital hyperinsulinism (HC)a very rare endocrine disease that develops in the first few months of life and can lead to severe health impairment in young patients, causing them severe neurological problems that cannot always be resolved.

They are cared for by the Asociacion corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco, which has been working in Peru for some time in an attempt to improve the health conditions of the most fragile, including the young patients of the San Bartolomé and Cevetano Heredia hospitals in Lima, who suffer from this neurological disease.

It was with them that we decided to launch the ‘Health for All: Diazoxide Project’ in March. In Peru, congenital hyperinsulinism is a particularly compromising disease due to delays in diagnosis and administration of the right drug, Diazoxide. The latter is not marketed in the country and is prohibitively expensive, not only for families, but also for the hospitals themselves who have no way of importing it from abroad.

For these reasons, the Asociacion corazones & Manos Solidarias San Francisco has for years been searching for both public and private donors who can espouse this cause, contributing to the purchase and shipment of the life-saving drug. At the beginning of the year, we at Health and Development decided to step in and inaugurate this project, which gave us the opportunity to purchase Diazoxide not only for little Edrick and Samuel, but also for all the other little patients in the two hospitals.

Now that the project is completed and the necessary Diazoxide supplies have been delivered, we can say that we are happy to have been able to contribute to this activity and to have intervened on behalf of the most fragile.

We at Salute e Sviluppo have been working in developing countries for many years, not only in Africa and Asia, but also in Latin America: recently we have received numerous requests for help from associations operating on Peruvian soil, we have told you about the life-saving drug projects for children in the hospitals of Lima, and also about support for the elderly in difficult conditions.

As of 1 October, we decided to take action by starting a new activity that will see us engaged for four months in synergy with the Obra San Camilo: ’25 electrified and mechanised (hospital) beds for the Obra San Camilo Clinic’.

This medical centre is located in Lima, the capital of Peru, was established by the Camillian Religious and is a private non-profit organisation that provides health services to the community not only in Lima, but also in the entire province. A multitude of diagnostic examinations, aimed at prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, can be performed in the clinic. Over the years, the centre has been able to expand more and more and now has specific outpatient clinics for various diseases, a laboratory, an X-ray, mammography, bone densitometry and electrocardiogram service, as well as two operating theatres, a delivery room and a nursery.

It has now become absolutely necessary to replace 25 beds, which are now obsolete, uncomfortable for patients and not very functional for healthcare staff. We at Salute e Sviluppo were delighted to be able to provide concrete help to the clinic by purchasing these electrified and mechanised beds, which will enable the patients to cope comfortably with their treatment, the staff to be able to work in a modern environment, and the Clinic to continue to be a state-of-the-art health centre.

We will keep you updated on all developments!

The project ‘Installation of solar panels at the Institut Supérieur Privé de Santé Saint Camille de Lellis’ in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, has just ended. This mission has seen us engaged over the past six months in the purchase and installation of some solar panels and an energy collection and pumping system.

The St. Camillus Institute of Higher Education in Ouagadougou is one of the best educational centres in the country, where students – from as many as 12 African nations – have the opportunity to undertake highly specialised nursing studies.

The situation in Burkina Faso continues to be critical in many respects: from health to education, many young people are driven by the desire to emigrate in order to find more remunerative occupations, in the hope of improving their living conditions. It has worsened further in recent years, since the country has been locked in the grip of terrorism, which in increasingly frequent waves has affected vast areas of the nation, causing destruction and death.

Precisely in light of this difficult context, it is of primary importance to invest in improving health and education facilities, while helping – at the same time – young people to profitably integrate into the social fabric through stable and remunerative employment. By offering highly specialised nursing courses, the institute is at the forefront of this mission: thanks to its courses of study, it gives young people the opportunity to specialise in a discipline that is indispensable for the country, while at the same time giving them the chance to obtain a job with which to make a decent living.

Enrolments at the school are constantly increasing and we at Salute e Sviluppo are very happy to be able to collaborate with it, helping it to grow more and more. The solar panels are exactly part of this constant improvement work that the centre wants to carry out, in fact thanks to them, the institute will be able to become energy self-sufficient and represent a cutting-edge centre not only in the health sector, but also in the field of energy sustainability.

We would like to thank the generous donation that enabled us to inaugurate and complete this beautiful project!