South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, is the youngest country in the world and currently ranks at the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index after many years of civil war. The political situation remains difficult and a lack of resources of all kinds is causing great poverty and suffering among the population.

Poverty, lack of infrastructure, constant guerrilla warfare between different tribes, etc. also contribute to a high rate of blindness. Cataract blindness is widespread throughout South Sudan, but particularly in areas where there is no health care, such as the Tombura region of Western Equatoria State, where the South Sudan Eye Project is being developed. The South Sudan Eye Project is a sub-initiative of the Turkana Eye Project in Kenya, and its mission is to improve eye health in the southwest of the country from 2022.

From the 3rd to the 17th of April 2024, a team of six people from Spain, led by Dr Blanca García Sandoval, travelled to the Ave-Maria Mission near Tombura and then to Santa Theresa Hospital in Nzara (Yambio) for a week as part of this project. The presence of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) for many years in the mission of Ave Maria is of vital importance for the identification and follow-up of the sick and for the organization of the campaigns.

During the 15-day campaign, 130 surgeries were performed and local staff were trained. A new FLAIR P7 microscope (financed by “South Sudan Eye Project” of the Fundación Emalaikat) and a P6 borrowed from Nzara, powered by a car battery due to a damaged power supply, were used.

Blanca García Sandoval reports (quote): The most important innovation in this campaign was a wonderful new surgical microscope (...) imported from Germany. This microscope has been the key to improving operations and training specialist staff. The microscope provides incredible quality of vision and illumination and has a co-observer tube so that teaching could take place in each of the surgeries. (quote end)

This successful mission not only emphasises the need for medical aid in remote regions, but also demonstrates the effectiveness of portable medical technology.

Providing quality healthcare in an area where it is virtually non-existent is a fundamental factor in the survival and development of South Sudanese society.