Under the Project “Health for All: Specialities”, another expert field visit to São Tomé and Príncipe took place from the 20 to 26 February. The team comprised of 12 doctors from various medical specialities (cardiology, dermatology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pathology, among others), included the President of IMVF, Paulo Freitas.

"It was an intense and rewarding week, particularly in relation to the ‘Health for All’ Project, the mission was a success", he explained. "We have been able to perform more than three thousand medical appointments in different specialties, we have done over 30 surgeries in patients that would have otherwise been evacuated to Portugal, we organised a hospital exercise on planning and began training sessions in management.”

Visit to the National School

Besides the medical-related activities, the mission included a visit to the National School of São Tomé and Príncipe, renovated and equipped under the project "School +". Manuel Correia, President of IPAD and Luis Filipe Barbeiro, Director of the School of Education and Social Sciences of the Instituto Politécnico of Leiria, accompanied the Minister of Education and Culture of São Tomé and Príncipe, Jorge Bom Jesus and the Project Director of IMVF, Ahmed Zaky , in a guided tour of the School.

The “School +” Project has currently several training programmes for teachers and is waiting for an answer from the Government on the proposal presented for the secondary school curricular restructuring.

Hand over to the Government the Geographic Information System (GIS)

There was still time to hand over to the Government the Geographic Information System (GIS) of São Tomé and Príncipe, an important tool that permits a better understanding of the current configuration of the São Tomé and Príncipe territory, leading to improved interventions in areas such as education, urban planning or public health. Developed by IMVF and the University of Coimbra, the project brings together up to date information on the distribution of the population and basic social services, roads and socio-demographic indicators, allowing for more informed analysis and data cross-checking, able to explain regional differences in the provision of local services.

In addition to the delivery of the GIS that took place on the evening of the 26 February at the Portuguese Cultural Center, the book ‘Health for All’ was simultaneously launched, a publication that assesses the performance of project with the same name, a partnership between the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, IPAD and IMVF.