June 12, 2006
USNS Mercy Ship on Humanitarian Mission in Tawi-Tawi, Philippines
The USNS MERCY will anchor in the southern Philippines province of Tawi-Tawi from June 11-18, 2006, on a humanitarian mission. Coming from Zamboanga, Sulu and Basilan Provinces, the oil tanker-turned-hospital ship will be providing surgical services to more than 80 pre-identified patients in Tawi-Tawi including thyroidectomies, hernia repairs, cleft and lip repairs, and OB-GYN surgical procedures.
The surgical operations will be accompanied by biomedical and engineering support to the Datu Halun Provincial Hospital, as well as public health support to various municipalities, particularly identifying and protecting possible potable water sites. The humanitarian assistance of the USNS MERCY Ship is supported by the Department of National Defense, particularly the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its Technical Service Brigade of the AFP Reserve Command, and the Office of Civil Defense-National Disaster Coordinating Council who will participate in the medical and surgical missions on shore to accommodate additional patients who are in need of medical attention. A total of 60 doctors from the AFP Reserve Command will be flown into the province to support the activity.
ACDI/VOCA through its USAID-funded EnRICH Project has been working to improve the health of children and women of reproductive age through effective and efficient family planning, maternal and child health and tuberculosis interventions since 2002. The project focuses on local government capability building and behavior change campaigns supported by community coalitions. With encouragement from its funder, the U.S. Agency for International Development, ACDI/VOCA has assisted U.S. Navy and Filipino health personnel to identify priority patients to receive diagnosis and treatment aboard this mobile acute-surgical medical facility.
Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost province of the country, includes 307 islands and islets. Because of this distinctive geography, it is difficult to bring patients to its provincial hospital in Bongao, its capital, where surgical care is available. Data show that the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), of which Tawi Tawi is a component province, has the highest maternal mortality ratio, at three hundred and twenty per hundred thousand population, and infant mortality rate, at fifty-five per thousand live births. In terms of poverty and human development index, the province is in the bottom five together with the rest of the provinces comprising the ARMM region. The poor health situation in the province has caught the attention of the national and local Filipino government and the United States.
ACDI/VOCA is a full-service international economic development firm dedicated to improving lives and livelihoods worldwide. Since 1963, ACDI/VOCA has worked in 145 countries. Funded by USAID, the USDA, the World Bank, regional development banks, UNDP and other sources, ACDI/VOCA currently implements more than 90 projects in almost 40 countries.
Read about the Mercy's completed humaniarian mission in the Philippines.