Arvore da Vida
Árvore da Vida in Angola wants to realize a health and training center on land that has already been purchased in Huambo.
The site is located in a densely populated area, where people mainly live in poverty. Nearby is a market where about 25,000 people pass daily.
Construction Work
Construction started in January 2021 on a plot of 1020 m2. Part of the center will provide healthcare. Five consultation rooms are being built for this, including two for mother and child care (including prenatal care), a pharmacy, a basic laboratory and a treatment room. Medical training will be given by (inter)national health professionals for local doctors.
Various Trainings
The other part of the center (accessible through a separate entrance) will become a multifunctional space for training programs such as:
- Training women to become health ambassadors;
- Training recovered patients to become ambassadors;
- Teaching women vocational skills to provide a source of income;
- Education about healthy nutrition for mother and child, using local vegetables, fruits and herbs that are easy to grow;
- Training in sustainable agriculture for food security.
The Team
The center is an initiative of and will be managed by the Angolan foundation ‘Árvore de Vida’, which means ‘Tree of Life’. The foundation consists of a core team of three qualified nurses, an administrative assistant, three trained volunteers and a board.
This team has provided health training to 220 nurses. 125 of them now work in remote health posts and are committed to training others in awareness and prevention.
Operation Successful
So far, ‘Árvore de Vida’ has successfully referred 24 women for surgery. The center is authorized to receive and dispense vaccines. An ultrasound machine has been donated for prenatal care and an ophthalmologist is volunteering to work part-time.