Basic life-and-death health care issues continue to be a serious need throughout
much of sub-Saharan Africa, and Congo is certainly among those with the
greatest need. According to IMA World Health:
“In
much of DRC, living conditions are dismal, access to health care
is minimal and violence still erupts in unstable areas. With a
population of over 57.5 million people, of
these:
- 75% live below the poverty line
- More than half have no access to drinking water or to basic healthcare
- Three out of every 10 children are poorly nourished
- Up to 20% of children won't live past the age of 5, and nearly half will die before their 40th birthday.
Dr. Tim Rice, a teaching physician at Saint Louis University School of
Medicine and an elder at New City Fellowship, has been leading the way for us
in working on health-related issues in Congo for the past 6 years. He has
overseen the building and development of a clinic and has led teams of doctors
and health care providers to give both care and medical training.
Dr Rice's vision is participate in the building of the Kingdom of God by helping Vanga Evangelical Hospital, the Miriam Fountain Nursing school and the Vanga Health Zone continue to grow in being a training center in Africa for Christ-centered whole person care in a resource limited environment. The priority is to train those that share the Kingdom vision of ministry to the poor, especially Congolese willing to serve in their communities as well as international medical students/nursing students/resident-in-training who are considering medical missions work. The Medical training will primarily be done in Vanga but would encompass the other faith-based hospitals across Congo. In order to further this training, we regularly facilitate short-term medical teams to both learn from the work in Vanga and strengthen the training at Vanga.
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