6 August 2009 / TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, İSTANBUL
A delegation of 30 Turkish doctors is heading for Tanzania and Zanzibar to administer vaccinations against deadly, but curable, diseases prevalent on the continent.
Aegean Health Board President Emin Şimşek said the team will be able to see 20,000 people in Tanzania and Zanzibar over the next 10 days. Recalling that they were to arrive in Zanzibar by passing through Ethiopia, Şimşek said they will offer the most comprehensive and far-reaching single health check campaign conducted in Africa to date.Simultaneously, in their role as Turkey's envoys, Şimşek said the team had brought smiles to the faces of many Tanzanians during a similar medical visit last year. Şimşek also made comments addressing Tanzania's malaria problem, which is the primary cause of death in the country despite costing only $1 per person to prevent. “We will take approximately one ton of medicine to this country. In order to prevent children and others from dying from this disease, we will also be bringing and distributing nearly 4,000 mosquito nets that we bought using funds raised in Turkey to prevent mosquitoes from biting people. We will be very happy if we are able to prevent the death of human beings caused by the disease in this country where the average age is 40,” he concluded.
