A new clinic for treating tuberculosis and AIDs patients, training seminars for safe childbirth attended by 185 midwives, HIV and leprosy prevention campaigns: Malteser International’s work in Sudan continues despite the new tensions arising with the international community.

“After twenty years of civil war, south Sudan has almost nothing,” explains Johannes Schweda, Malteser International project manager for this part of the country. “Peace was only signed three years ago and there’s still much to do. When we see a leper cured in our clinics we realize the importance of basic health units and what our work means for so many people”.

This is why the 25,000 inhabitants of Lasu, a town hitherto served by a single health centre, have enthusiastically greeted the opening of the new clinic for tuberculosis and HIV-positive patients. It will also treat leprosy, another disease for which the Order’s Ambulance Corps has been promoting a intense prevention campaign through the radio, theatre and personal testimonies to lessen discrimination. The clinic represents an attempt to insert the treatment of tuberculosis in the national health system, and local authorities will take it over in the near future.