The Hospitaller Order of Saint Gabriel has been supporting “Andzaha Santé” since 2014, a humanitarian association that manages a Mother/Child Solidarity Health Center in Madagascar on the island of Sainte-Marie. The objective of this Health Center is to strengthen the few existing healthcare structures in order to provide quality care to the 27,000 inhabitants of the island.

This project is necessary because the inhabitants of Sainte-Marie are too far from the capital to hope to access the meager subsidies from the Malagasy government and too small to attract large NGOs. Only private initiatives like Andzaha Santé, in partnership with the Hospitaller Order of Saint Gabriel, can help them overcome isolation.

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Thanks to this equipment, the association was able to conduct a screening and training campaign in the most remote parts of Sainte-Marie Island in collaboration with the organization Gynécologie Sans Frontière (GSF). All of this was made possible thanks to the Hospitaller Order of Saint Gabriel, which has been actively supporting Andzaha since the beginning of the project.

In 2015, €10,000 were granted by the Order to cover the purchase of an ultrasound machine and an electrocardiograph, as well as the outfitting of the field ambulance. Thanks to these donations, the Andzaha clinic is gradually acquiring the resources of a modern small clinic.

The results of all these efforts are simply extraordinary: hundreds of women and their children receive care each year at the Health Center, and medical monitoring of pregnant women and their babies has become a reality on the island. They no longer have to cross the Sainte-Marie channel by boat – where fatal accidents occur every year – to reach the main island, which provides the poorest population with safety, convenience, and quality care. Certainly, there is still progress to be made, but the association has learned from past experiences to deliver services that are practical and focused on the real needs of the island.

In 2016, the association will create solidarity micro-enterprises based on the principle of social entrepreneurship, where economic activities will finance humanitarian and social actions to ensure sustainability. Regarding this particular and innovative approach, the Grand Master of the Order of Saint Gabriel, SEM Roland de Boutechoux de Chavanes, recently met with President Gérard Hoareau to develop a joint action strategy. The Order’s funding decisions for 2016 will be examined with Ambassador Jürg Staübli, Constable of the Order of Saint Gabriel and President of the Order’s Donation Commission, as part of the 2016/2017 aid budget.

The Order of Saint Gabriel will make every effort to provide Andzaha Santé with the necessary support for its success.

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