OREANDA-NEWS. To support the emergency services and pediatric intensive care services of the Albert Royer National Children's Hospital in Dakar, Senegal, AXA Assistance deploys its skills and employees to deliver a veritable lifeline of solidarity.

The SOLIMED (medical solidarity) project began in 2011, when AXA Assistance launched an unprecedented initiative to provide support for foreign hospitals in great need of medical equipment. The principle was to recuperate equipment from French hospitals that was either used or was to be discarded, verify the equipment, transport it, install it onsite and train the local medical staff in its use.

"The strength of SOLIMED is that we don't just deliver the equipment. We are there for the long term, helping install the devices and train its users," said Serge Morelli, CEO of AXA Assistance.

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The initial operation took place in 2012 in Dakar, at the Albert Royer National Children's Hospital (known by its acronym HEAR). An onsite audit carried out by AXA Senegal and a physician from AXA Assistance revealed a significant need for pediatric medical equipment. These needs were all the more critical because HEAR is the only major pediatric hospital in Senegal, serving a population of which half is composed of children under 16.

Senegal's Minister of Health, Dr. Awa Marie Coll Seck stated: "This is a partnership from one heart to another, from one community to another, involving people who want to help other people to be better cared for."

This lifeline of solidarity was strengthened by a third operation in March 2015. An additional nine monitors, six incubators for newborns (including two new ones given by AXA entities in Africa), eight syringe pumps, three pediatric respirators and five automated infusion pumps were installed in the Albert Royer National Children's Hospital. This equipment continues to help the work of the medical staff in caring for the hospital's young patients.

The project was made possible through a partnership with the Public Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP). Today, some 150 m3 of equipment has been recuperated by volunteers from AXA Hearts in Action, the AXA Group's international volunteer program.