As Nor-Shipping’s charity partner, Mercy Ships contributes to future-proofing lives and communities in African nations through performing transformative surgeries, providing vital education and equipping local surgical care services. And such corporate partnerships are also tying business success to a greater purpose by promoting human welfare in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to its National Director for Norway, Martin Aarflot.
The hospital ship charity has truly been working wonders since being launched on a wing and a prayer by founder Don Stephens back in 1978 with no maritime experience and few resources, propelled by a vision to bring hope and healing to the poorest communities in Africa without access to safe, timely and affordable surgical care for life-threatening conditions.
Having started its pioneering work with the now-retired vessel Anastasis, Mercy Ships has been able to extend the reach of its mission to impact over 2.8 million people globally who have benefited from medical care on the strength of corporate sponsorship, private donations and the efforts of thousands of volunteers serving onboard the world’s largest hospital ships Global Mercy ™ and Africa Mercy®.
‘Exponential expansion’
Such support has enabled the charity to perform over 119,000 life-changing and life-saving surgeries across a range of surgical specialties, as well as more than 547,600 dental procedures. It has also trained more than 55,800 healthcare professionals and developed local health facilities to strengthen medical services in the countries it serves over the longer term.
Over the course of the charity’s 46-year history, tens of thousands of medical and non-medical volunteers from more than 60 nations have contributed their expertise to change lives, dedicating their time and skills to accelerate access to safe surgical, obstetric and anesthetic care. Each year, more than 2500 volunteer professionals serve onboard a Mercy Ship, including surgeons, dentists, nurses, teachers and cooks, as well as seafarers, engineers and technicians.
“Mercy Ships has seen exponential expansion, especially with the addition of the newbuild Global Mercy in 2022 that more than doubled our capacity and a recent upgrade of the Africa Mercy. But we are still looking to multiply the impact of our work where it is needed most by increasing income fivefold and boosting volunteer recruitment tenfold,” Aarflot says.
The Africa Mercy has been serving in Madagascar this year following the major refurbishment to extend its lifetime that entailed remodeling of the hospital area to enhance medical facilities, renovation of the dining room and galley, an IT upgrade, and maintenance work on the hull and rudder. The Global Mercy, meanwhile, has mainly been stationed at Freetown, Sierra Leone during 2024.
Partnerships offer green opportunity
Aarflot says Mercy Ships operates two of the largest non-governmental hospital ships in the world, which will be further expanded with construction of another state-of-the-art newbuild ordered earlier this year in China with the generous support of container shipping giant MSC Group.
“As well as being a worthy cause, we believe Mercy Ships represents a unique opportunity for industry engagement to make a real difference in our world by promoting sustainability in the wider context of humanitarian concerns to deliver on UN SDGs - particularly Good Health & Wellbeing and Quality Education - as these gain greater priority on the corporate social responsibility agenda,” Aarflot says.
Social issues such as health, labour standards and human rights, as well as diversity, equality and inclusion, are becoming an increasingly important factor in commercial decision-making by shipowners, charterers, cargo owners, banks, investors and other stakeholders.
And Aarflot says Mercy Ships, with its commitment to the highest environmental, social and governance standards, is well-positioned to support corporate partners in terms of ESG by providing valuable data for reporting purposes.
“Doing good for the global community makes sound business sense. Companies can also benefit on the social side by strengthening the competence of their workforce through voluntary participation with Mercy Ships to bolster motivation, develop new skills and broaden understanding of humanitarian issues, while we also offer an arena to empower female seafarers and officers,” he explains.
Education, training and advocacy
The charity’s work extends beyond life-saving surgeries performed onboard to encompass education, training and advocacy programmes in host nations including Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Madagascar being implemented in partnership with national governments.
Such programmes are designed to facilitate mentoring and further education of medical professionals, both at training labs onboard and in collaboration with onshore initiatives, as well as promote development of modern training facilities - such as a dental simulation and training centre in Guinea - to strengthen local health infrastructure. For example, as many as 658 professionals participated in training programmes in Senegal and The Gambia last year to strengthen their skills and learn new ones.
“One of our core aims is to bolster medical capacity-building through enhanced training of healthcare professionals and supporting onshore development programmes, which is the most effective way of achieving the desired multiplier effect to make a lasting and sustainable impact. We are therefore looking to strengthen our collaboration with African nations to make this development strategy work more efficiently,” Aarflot says.
‘Opening doors’ with Nor-Shipping
He adds: “Fortunately, we experience many open doors and much favour with the maritime industry, both in Norway and elsewhere, as we seek to further expand our mission, with a strong focus on both streamlining and boosting the recruitment process amid the build-up of our fleet.”
Significantly, Mercy Ships was recently named charity partner of the maritime branch of the Federation of Norwegian Industries, representing hundreds of maritime equipment suppliers, designers and shipyards, to gain industry support as it finalises the makers’ list for the latest newbuild.
Aarflot says the charity’s prominent profile in the industry and strong development within Scandinavia can in large part be attributed to its “invaluable partnership” with Nor-Shipping.
“Being the charity of choice at such a high-profile industry event has raised our standing immeasurably, increasing our visibility and thereby contributing to the expansion of our work. This has provided us with the perfect platform to promote the charity, enabling us both to connect with existing industry partners and secure new ones.”
And he concludes: “We look forward to spreading the word again at Nor-Shipping in 2025!”
