Organization
The South Sudanese healthcare organization Arkangelo Ali Association has its roots in the Rumbek diocese. Its director, Lina Sala, worked with Bishop Cesare Mazzolari in the nineties, during the opening of the first missions.
In the following years, thanks to Bishop Mazzolari, a health department took shape within the diocese for the coordination of health centers and for the diffusion of basic assistance services.
Since 2006 this activity merged into the independent Arkangelo Ali Association (AAA), recognized by the South Sudanese government.
Directed by Lina Sala and the medical director Callixte Minani, the non-profit organization continues the work started with Father Cesare Mazzolari.
Today it manages 14 health centers spread throughout the diocesan territory, with over 100,000 patients treated every year.
The main programs launched include the battle against tuberculosis and leprosy, and the training of local staff to provide increasingly efficient and quality health care services.
In collaboration with CESAR and other international partners, it promotes health projects for the treatment of diseases caused by malnutrition. Attention is directed to children under 5 years of age and their mothers, for a support aimed not only at the treatment but also at the prevention of some infections aggravated by sanitary conditions.
The organization employs 300 South Sudanese people and 40 expatriates (doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and logisticians). Arkangelo Ali Association collaborates closely with the local representation of the South Sudanese Ministry of Health and with other international agencies working in South Sudan in the health sector.
The name of the organization is a tribute to the memory of the vicar general, Arkangelo Ali, assassinated in 1965 in the Rumbek parish during an attack by Arab soldiers from northern Sudan against religious and missionaries present in the South.
