Basic information about TARGET's obstetrics clinic

The obstetrics clinic is TARGET's largest medical aid project. After a total of five years of construction, the maternity clinic was opened for girls and women in July 2015. The clinic is financed by donations. Since its opening, around 500 treatments and 30 births have taken place every month.

The idea

Since 2004, TARGET's mobile health center has been on the road with a team of doctors in the Afar region. It is usually the only medical care available to the people living there. In their daily work, our volunteer doctors are repeatedly confronted with the terrible consequences of female genital mutilation. In the Afar region, "Pharaonic mutilation", traditionally the worst form of mutilation, is widespread. Every birth is therefore a deadly risk for the women and their babies. The infant mortality rate is 50%. For operations such as caesarean sections, women still have to be taken to distant cities. A route that is not possible for many women. For this reason, TARGET decided to build the obstetrics clinic on the edge of the Danakil Desert among the Afar people. The semi-nomads (1.6 million people) were the first people to adopt TARGET's idea, declare female genital mutilation a sin and enshrine it in tribal law (2003).

TARGET's obstetric clinic is the only reliable help for girls and women suffering from FGM. With the help of volunteer doctors and nurses, Ethiopian women receive round-the-clock medical treatment for obstetrics, prenatal care, follow-up care, basic gynecological care and preventive education on FGM. Medicines are difficult to obtain in Africa. Cost-intensive imports are therefore essential. All European doctors work for the project on a voluntary basis, but a trip costs around 1,000 euros.

The place of hope was only created thanks to your donations and voluntary work: the Danakil Obstetrics Clinic.