This summer, a team from Dexeus Women's Health conducted a humanitarian mission in Madagascar to provide urgent medical care to the rural population and solve health problems affecting women specifically, including uterine fibroids, genital prolapse, ovarian cysts and postpartum fistulae.
Over the two weeks of the mission, named Operation Madagascar, the team, composed of gynaecologists Pere N. Barri, Alberto Rodríguez Melcón, Claudia Blancafort, Carlota Vilarrubí and Ana Fernández Sanguino, pathologist Cristina Jou Muñoz and anaesthetists Juan Pablo Oglio and Leonardo Parada visited almost 150 patients aged 18 months to 68 years who were suffering from fibroids, infections, typhoid fever, kidney problems, cardiovascular disorders, infertility and even certain cancers. Most of the operations carried out on women were postpartum fistulae, an injury subject to intense social rejection and with a high incidence in this country due to lack of access to services and specialists offering emergency obstetric care.
The initiative was made possible through the social solidarity sparked by the crowdfunding campaign launched on the migranodearena.org platform, and received the support of Dexeus University Hospital specifically the Department of Anaesthesiology, Resuscitation and Pain, which contributed and facilitated the collection of medical equipment, together with the collaboration of various entities, pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies.