Surgeon gets UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award
Adaha |
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has
announced South Sudanese surgeon, Dr. Evan Atar Adaha, as the organization’s
2018 Nansen Refugee Award winner.
The annual award honors an
individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help people
forcibly displaced from their homes.
For 20 years, Atar has been
committed to providing medical services to people forced to flee conflict and
persecution in Sudan and South Sudan as well as to the communities that welcome
them.
Based in Bunj, in north-eastern
South Sudan, Atar runs the only functional hospital, serving more than 200,000
people. These include 144,000 refugees from Sudan’s Blue Nile State and the
local Maban County population of about 53,000.
His team at Maban hospital
carries out an average of 58 operations per week in difficult conditions with
limited bed space, supplies and equipment. The hospital serves as a maternity
hospital, treats diseases like HIV and TB, and operates on a 24-hour basis.
For Atar, running the hospital is
more than just a job, it’s a calling. His wife and four children live in
neighboring Kenya and he only sees them a few times per year. But every day he
is reminded that the personal sacrifices he makes are small compared to saving
the lives of displaced people who have nowhere else to turn.
Media materials including photos
and b-roll video are available at the following link: http://www.unhcr.org/media-nansen-refugee-award-2018
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