about
Sainte Anne Clinic is a 15 bed, 5,400 square foot clinic located in the Lom-Nava neighborhood in Lomé, Togo. Three doctors are on staff. The clinic is operated by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Church.
The clinic was opened in August, 2002. The building cost was approximately $380,000. The clinic sustainably operates on an annual budget of roughly $60,000. Revenues are derived from the sale of medical services and pharmaceuticals. Donations, while very important to financing the original construction of the facility, have not been a significant component of annual operations. Charitable support is now being sought for expansion to provide maternity care as well as other services described at this web site.
The clinic houses equipment to diagnose and treat eye ailments and evaluate vision, a laboratory, ultrasound equipment, physical rehabilitation equipment, and a pharmacy.
In 2007, more than 5,000 opthalmological consultations were performed. Included in these consultations are 381 cataract cases and 354 glaucoma cases.
General medical visits in 2007 totaled approximately 24,000 – roughly 80 visits a day. This past year the clinic’s lab processed more than 12,000 specimen analyses including parasite examinations and HIV testing. The physical therapy section of the clinic performed more than 2,400 sessions in 2007. The ultrasound equipment in 2007 was used for more than 1,100 cases including ob/gyn observations.
Background
The Sainte Anne Clinic is operated by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Church, a Catholic religious order operating in Togo founded in 1952 by an Alsatian missionary, Joseph Strebler. There are currently about 200 sisters in the order with medical and social service operations in Lomé, Togoville, and Noepe.
Sister Delphine Gafan was instrumental in developing the clinic. Sister Delphine was born in 1951 in Lomé. She became a nun in 1973 with the express interest in serving as a teacher, counselor, and scout leader.
In 1982, Sister Delphine moved to Paris for one year to take classes to prepare her for work with the blind. While in Paris Sister Delphine befriended Alix Marduel who was studying medicine. Alix and her family were to become important benefactors for the development of the Sainte Anne Clinic as well as other humanitarian projects of Sister Delphine.
Returning to Togo Sister Delphine began working with the blind. In 1992 Sister Delphine began working on a series of humanitarian projects to assist the poor in Togo.
Sister Delphine’s work in Togo is supported internationally by Togo Direct. Togo Direct has been established through the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation in Oakland, California to receive U.S. tax deductible donations. Please visit the Support section for additional information about contributing.
Togo
General information about Togo can be found through the following links:
CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/to.html
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo