Under 6 hours from the UK and with no time difference, The Gambia is the smallest country in Africa, 30 miles wide by 295 miles in length, situated on the West African coast with an estimated population of 2,400,000 and they all rely on three government run hospitals for essential lifesaving health care. On 18 February 1965, Gambia was granted independence from the United Kingdom and joined The Commonwealth.
An agriculturally rich country, its economy is dominated by farming, fishing, and tourism. Peanuts (groundnuts) and peanut by-products are the chief domestic export. About a 48% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day. Over 10% of Gambian Children suffer from Malnutrition. Gambia is heavily dependent on foreign aid.
The climate is tropical with virtually uninterrupted sunshine and high daytime temperatures with almost no rainfall from November to June. English is the official language of the Gambia. About 90% of the country’s inhabitants are Muslim. Most of the urban population live in Banjul, the capital and largest city.
Successive Gambian Governments have worked hard to provide better health care, unfortunately the economy does not generate enough income to satisfy the enormous demands that a health care system requires. By providing primary health care training and first aid supplies our aim is to alleviate some of the demand for hospital beds due to infections, cross infections, and the lack of prompt first aid treatment from trained first aiders.
We have many good people from all walks of life helping make this charity a reality. The truth is we can never have enough help or money to fix the primary health care problems of The Gambia, but every little bit raised here goes such a long way in The Gambia. So please keep helping, fund raising and volunteering because without you, we couldn’t do it.
Being involved with First Aid 4 Gambia is an emotional tie for many of us. For others it is the pride in a job well done or the satisfaction of helping others in real need. Whatever the reward is for you, you can now keep up to date in real time with the work of the charity and its outreach team in The Gambia via Twitter. Simply click on the little bird with the follow me sign and the whole process is painless and quick. You can even have the updates sent direct to your phone as an SMS message. The wonders of technology eh.
You can also Fan our Facebook page by clicking the blue icon with the F to the left. You do not need a Facebook account to read our page but please consider joining Facebook (it is free) and interact with our volunteers and supporters who make up our wonderfully caring First Aid 4 Gambia community. All the up to date news and larger length stories from our outreach team are posted here regularly.
