Dr Justina Seyi-Olajide is the first female African paediatric surgeon to volunteer aboard the Global Mercy
She is a paediatric surgeon from Nigeria, and she came to operate.
African healthcare professionals are not only the people Mercy Ships trains. They are also the people who volunteer, operate and lead.
A paediatric surgeon from Nigeria
Paediatric surgery is one of the scarcest specialties in the world. Across much of Africa there are a handful of trained paediatric surgeons for populations of tens of millions, which is a large part of why children wait years for operations that should take an afternoon.
Dr Justina Seyi-Olajide practises in Nigeria and has worked on global surgery policy as well as in the operating room.
Volunteering aboard the Global Mercy
She joined the surgical team as a volunteer, becoming the first female African paediatric surgeon to do so. She operated alongside colleagues from other countries and worked with the local surgeons and trainees who came aboard.
Why this story sits at the centre of the work
It is easy to describe Mercy Ships as bringing surgeons to Africa. The more accurate description is that surgeons from everywhere, including from the host nations themselves, work in the same operating rooms.
Long-term surgical capacity in Africa will be built by African surgeons. Volunteers like her are what that looks like in practice.
