On site since 2005 thanks to its surgical care missions, HumaniTerra travels around Bangladesh on two hospital boats that sail on the Ganges and Brahmaputra delta.
HUMANITARIAN SURGERY TO HELP THE AT RISK POPULATIONS AND CLIMATIC REFUGEES OF THE BRAMAPUTRA RIVER
Since 2005, HumaniTerra has been intervening in Bangladesh, in the riverine area of the Gaibandha and Kurigram districts in the North of the country. The river islands of the Brahmaputra (chars in Bengali) are inhabited by over 1.5 million people. These islands are subject to flooding and erosion, and thus render living conditions extremely difficult and basic, in particular during the monsoon season. The sand islands’ instability forces the inhabitants to move regularly, to repeatedly build their homes and constantly prepare the ground for agriculture. Consequently, the char population has less access to resources than the Bangladeshi average, and basic services are close to nil.
HumaniTerra intervenes on the Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital, a hospital boat belonging to the Bangladeshi association Friendship, HumaniTerra’s local partner. HumaniTerra sends 8 surgical missions (orthopaedic surgery, reconstructive surgery, ophthalmology, ENT, paediatric surgery…) each year and takes care of the training through to the diagnostic and the post operation follow up of the local paramedic staff. HumaniTerra contributes to providing the hospital boat with specialized equipment and consumables adapted to the most frequent pathologies.
HELP WITH THE CONCEPTION AND EQUIPPING OF THE MOTHER-CHILD HOSPITAL BOAT
A second hospital boat owned by Friendship, the "Friendship Emirates Hospital", was inaugurated in 2009. HumaniTerra shared its surgical expertise to help with the layout designs and equipment of the boat’s operating theatres. She is dedicated to the care of mother and child. Each year at least two teams of obstetric and paediatric surgeons are sent over.