HEAL Africa's small clinic which was destroyed in 2002 volcanic eruption of Nyiragongo

What is now HEAL Africa began as a small clinic which was destroyed in 2002 volcanic eruption of Nyiragongo. It has been rebuilt in pieces, and now serves far more people than it was meant to. A new hospital would provide more efficient and effective medical care for the people of Goma. Quality of care would be much improved with a new facility. An architect has prepared this drawing of a three-story building which could serve the needs and link to the community health building. Would you like to help HEAL Africa build it? View of exsisting HEAL Africa Hospital and drawings of proposed New HEAL Africa Hospital. Help us build our future hospital!

Why is a new hospital needed? Because the present facility has been built in bits and pieces as funding was available. The surgical block is state-of-the-art, but the rest of the buildings were not planned as a whole. To provide the best possible care for the fistula patients and the rest of the patients that HEAL Africa serves, and to provide the optimum training setting for the doctors and nurses of Congo, a well-planned building which provides easy access to patients and to services like running water and nursing stations, will make a huge difference in the experience—for both patients and medical staff.

According to good development principles, outside assistance builds on what is already in place and functioning well, developing proven capacity and giving local actors the additional tools they need to do a better job.

HEAL Africa has pioneered fistula repair in North Kivu and Maniema provinces since 2002, when no one else was interested in caring for women with fistula.

• Our experienced and specialized surgeons have performed over 1600 fistula surgeries.
• We have trained six specialists to perform this surgery with skill and success.
• We conduct decentralized outreach surgery in North Kivu and Maniema provinces in local general hospitals, linked at the same time with in-service training of local staff, referring only the most complicated cases to Goma.
• USAID through IRC, through UNICEF and through Engenderhealth, has invested in HEAL Africa staff, equipment and infrastructure.
• We are situated within the government medical system by the Medical Inspection of North Kivu as the tertiary referral hospital of the province.
• We are a recognized clinical training centre of the Medical Faculty of the University of Goma, offering the first two years of accredited clinical specialization in Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Family Medicine, Surgery and Orthopedics.

HEAL Africa is a Congolese not for profit association which has completely rebuilt itself after total destruction by the volcano, with assistance from many friends in USA and around the world. We have a state of the art surgical suite, but seriously lack the hospital building that will allow us to increase our capacity to serve patients and train medical professionals efficiently.

The second floor of the proposed hospital will be entirely devoted to women’s fistula services; and the whole hospital is devoted to teaching and preparing Congolese doctors to give excellent service in the most underserved areas of Congo.

Many visitors from around the world have visited HEAL Africa and come away enchanted by a hospital of excellence run entirely by Congolese staff of the highest caliber.

A new physical plant will enable HEAL Africa to serve their patients even better than before, and train the next generation of doctors in an environment where it is possible to practice excellent medicine.