Project HOPE Partners With U.S. Navy in West Africa on Humanitarian Mission
Medical volunteers from Project HOPE embark on a six-week mission with the United States Navy along the West African coast.
Millwood, Virginia, July 30, 2012
Medical volunteers from Project HOPE, a global health education and humanitarian aid organization, embark August 3rd on a six-week mission with the United States Navy along the West African coast. The endeavor, known as Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2012, seeks to provide primary health care to local residents and to improve the quality of medical care and public health in Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Benin and Togo by providing on-site education and training to local health care professionals.
HOPE volunteer Dr. Keith Williams, who is a physician at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, will be the team’s Medical Director.
“I hope to share my experience in serving the underserved to benefit the people of West Africa and help HOPE achieve its goals of building medical capability and providing care where it is needed most,” said Dr. Williams, who was also a physician in the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program.
The HOPE volunteers will work together with military personnel aboard the HSV-2 Swift, a U.S. Navy vessel. They will provide medical care and health education at land-based facilities along the coasts of the host nations. The mission’s areas of focus are primary care, optometry, preventive medicine, public health, sanitation (including malaria prevention), family planning, pediatrics and maternal health.
Pediatric nurse Cherri Dobson of Brentwood, CA who has previously volunteered on numerous Project HOPE missions on both land and sea will also be aboard the HSV-2 Swift for the Africa Partnership Station.
“There have been so many times when I knew the presence of HOPE volunteers made a difference in the lives of the people we were serving. I love what I do with Project HOPE and look forward to my next mission every time,” said Ms. Dobson.
APS is Project HOPE’s 29th mission with the Department of Defense since 2005, when HOPE partnered with the U.S. Navy to provide disaster relief following the Indian Ocean Tsunami. HOPE now participates in several joint endeavors with the U.S. Navy and Air Force annually.
In addition to HOPE’s previous participation in APS missions, the organization has sent volunteers on medical missions to Cameroon, Ghana and Liberia, and currently directs ongoing health programs in Mozambique, Namibia, Malawi and South Africa.
About Project HOPE
Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health crises, with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now conducts land-based medical training and health education programs in 35 countries across five continents.