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Medical Messaging: special missions during confinement
28/05/2020
More than 800 parcels were sent to health facilities, orphanages, dispensaries or leper houses.
At the beginning of last March, the activity of the Medical Messaging was very strong. More than 300 packages were ready to go. The day before the announcement by the President of the Republic of the confinement, the teams were however able to send a maximum of medical aid, i.e. 97 parcels on 9 flights with a team of 5 volunteers.
Then the situation forced Aviation Sans Frontières to bring almost to a standstill all its activities directly related to the flights of commercial companies, including Air France its main partner.
However, a special mission was able to take place on April 26 with the Senegalese medical authorities and the Transaxe Equipement association, for the sending of nutritional supplements and small medical and surgical equipment. Thus, the Medical Courier is authorized to send 70 parcels by the Air flight France Paris - Dakar which must bring back French remained in Senegal.
The same operation will be repeated on 28 April and 3 May. Then a few missions could be carried out and whenever possible, aid packages are sent via the few flights triggered.
In total, during these two months of health crisis, more than 800 parcels were sent, half of them for the Illimi Da Bani association in Niger, thus avoiding the destruction of perishable products intended for health facilities, orphanages, dispensaries or leper houses.
Thanks to our partners AIR FRANCE, ADP, KEOLIS and all the safety and security control services who gave the agreements and facilitated the work of the teams mobilized despite the confinement.
Thanks also to our volunteers, in particular to Alain, Norbert and Thierry, who spared no effort by working on weekends to ensure the boarding and packaging of the packages.
In parallel with these usual missions and carried out at best with these exceptional constraints, 35 packages of milk cans from the association S.O.S Boîte de Lait were offered to Emmaus Paris which was out of stock.
The associations present on the ground alert us to the enormous needs of health centers. We are therefore waiting for the resumption of flights to ensure the long-awaited shipments, especially to Brazzaville, Bamako, Conakry, Kinshasa, N'djameéna, Niamey, Nouakchott and Yaoundé.