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The visit to Sudan of the delegation led by the Director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation Luca Maestripieri has ended.
In the 5 days of its duration, the mission was able to appreciate the work carried out by the AICS Khartoum both at a bilateral and multi-bilateral level.
"The Maternity Hospital of Port Sudan, the analysis laboratory and the three health centers visited today" - underlined DG Luca Maestripieri - "all rehabilitated with Italian and EU funds through the support of AISPO and Sassari Univeristy, are now able to offer a wide range of health services, including consultancy antenatal and postnatal services, maternal and child services, laboratory diagnostics, nutritional screening, vaccinations, training of health personnel on basic health services and communicable diseases – in line with SDG 3 aimed at ensuring health and well-being for all and for all ages.
During the mission, the delegation had the opportunity to met Althawara women's association in occasion of the inauguration of the project funded by Italy and implemented by UNWOMEN aiming at supporting the production of dry food such as fish, okra, tomato. "Gender equality, women's empowerment and health are the pillars of our cooperation in Sudan" clarified Michele Morana, head of office in Khartoum. "AICS is at the forefront in Sudan to deal with malnutrition of women and children, especially during pregnancy and lactation" concluded Morana.
The last day of the mission was dedicated to visiting the activities carried out in the open areas of Mayo, at the outskirts of Khartoum, where almost 600,000 people both refugees from Niger, South Sudan and Chad and IDPs from Kordofan and Darfur lived. Mayo lacks any type of services: education, water, and sanitation. "Our approach" commented Annamaria Iotti, from AICS Rome, "is based on the active participation of the community, so that our interventions aimed at improving the living conditions of the population are sustainable and long-lasting". The Ghaar Hiraa school built entirely through this approach, the rehabilitation of the road and solar energy wells, the campaign on birth registration and the prevention of communicable diseases, are some of the activities carried out by AICS Khartoum with the involvement of the local community. "Only though the commintment of the local community, we can achieve our common goals" concluded Stefano Glianiski, director of OIV in Italy.
Finally the delegation met the director of the Sudanese National Museum who presented the activities carried out as part of the initiative implemented by UNESCO and funded by Italy. "The Italian interventions contributed to the redesign of the museum spaces, involving international experts from institutes, universities and specialized foundations, developing an intense action of capacity building and transfer of skills and managerial know-how" commented the Michele Morana who then added "Italy pays great attention at international level to interventions in the cultural heritage, as far as Sudan is concerned, we are strongly committed to ensuring that this country can finally have its own national museum worthy of the treasures of ancient art of inestimable value".
