Though the medical mission has ended in Chad, the government will provide assistance to its people.Continue reading
Experts from the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE) and a group of civilian doctors have traveled to Chad as part of a humanitarian aid program, TV2’s morning show reported.
Csaba Gyuricza, the rector of MATE, said that the Chadian mission consists of several parts: military, humanitarian, economic – including agricultural – and educational pillars, with the university participating in the latter two. He explained that so far, theoretical as well as practical training has been given and model farms have been set up, thereby developing food production in the African country.
He added that
they had already completed several training programs, and had so far awarded 60 diplomas to local people.
As he said, the model farms are primarily dedicated to animal husbandry skills, mainly camel keeping and dairy processing technology. This might come as a surprise, he added, but the university has the technology to produce camel milk powder, which could have a big market locally.
He also mentioned that
such a model farm would be set up in Hungary, where young Chadians would be invited to attend under the government’s Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program,
and that the first applications for this university course had already been received.
Réka Fodor, founder of the Afréka Foundation, noted that they met mainly war refugees in Chad, many of whom were sick and injured.
For us, the most important thing was to try to cure these (…) infections,”
she said, adding that malaria and typhoid fever are very common in the country. She underlined that both malaria and typhoid fever can be treated relatively cheaply and effectively.
Earlier, Tristan Azbej, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told news channel M1 about Hungary Helps’ assistance in Chad. He said that
the Hungary Helps program aims to prevent and mitigate a humanitarian disaster.
Chad has an infant mortality rate twenty-two times that of Europe, and half the children are malnourished. The drying up of Lake Chad and the Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram have led to a large number of internal refugees, with millions more arriving from neighboring countries.
In Sudan, with a population of 50 million, a new war broke out 10 months ago, displacing 10 million people, two million of whom fled abroad, a significant number to Chad, he said. He added that nearby, Nigeria was suffering the ravages of Boko Haram, and Niger was politically unstable. Chad is the only stable state in Central Africa, despite the challenges, but if it too falters, up to 10 million migrants could leave the region for Europe, he warned.
On the TV program, Dávid Vogel, head of Hungary Helps’ first branch in Africa, in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, said in a video recorded there that they are helping Chadians and refugees from neighboring countries mainly with medical care, donations of medicines and food, and improving drinking water supplies.
Via TV2, MTI; Featured image: Facebook/Azbej Tristan
