Aid Missions Implemented by AWB Since its beginnings in 1992, Acupuncture Without Borders has already performed a considerable number of teaching missions: Haiti From 1996 to 2000, 11 nun nurses were trained in acupuncture in collaboration with the Help Haiti Association. Unfortunately the situation that has reigned in recent years in Haiti has prevented us from following up this work . Burkina Faso From 2000 to 2002, together with “Rossignol-Vandoeuvres”, an association providing mutual support in Burkina, and AGMA (Geneva Medical Acupuncture Association), a first group of nurses was trained for the dispensaries of the Ouahigouya region in the north of the country . Also in Burkina and Ouahigouya, a second group of nurses was trained from 2005 to 2006. A special follow-up session with the accent on clinical aspects was held in 2007. These courses once again brought out a veritable passion for acupuncture on the part of the students, who experience it as a completely new form of medicine. They followed the course assiduously, asking appropriate and judicious questions and learned to practise with enthusiasm . This second training course in Burkina Faso led to the noteworthy event of acupuncture becoming officially incorporated into the medical system of Yatenga province! Given that there is still no country-wide recognition of acupuncture it was a real first to be endorsed by the health authorities there. The health authorities agreed to put a building dedicated to acupuncture at our disposal, to officially integrate the acupuncture unit in a department of the Regional Hospital Centre (CH R) and to sign an agreement between the CHR and AWB Switzerland. Mauritania A training course was begun at Atar in January 2007 in conjunction with teachers of the SFERE College (Société Française d'Etudes et de Recherches en Energ étique ) of La Tour d'Aigues, near Aix-en-Provence in southern France. This first course aroused great enthusiasm among the students, who were rapidly able to put what they learned into practice and observe a marked improvement in their patients following treatment. The courses were attended diligently, and more and more patients put their names down for treatment. The students were pleased to be given needles and moxa sticks at the end of the session. They are now in a position to treat a number of common conditions: rheumatism, sciatica, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhoea, etc. The teachers are hoping that it will be possible to open an acupuncture unit at the Atar Hospital in the medium term. Cameroon An agreement concerning the training of healthcare personnel of bush dispensaries was finalized in January 2007 with the Ministry of Health in Yaoundé. The Physician Inspector General of the General Inspectorate of the Administrative Services at the Public Health Ministry and the chief of the Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Health showed great interest in the objectives of Acupuncture Without Borders, seeing a solution to their concerns for the development of better quality of care on the part of Health Service medical and para-medical personnel. An important factor was the complementarity of traditional Chinese acupuncture with Western medicine and “traditional” practice, as well as its great availability to the most needy patients, above all those depending on bush dispensaries . Commencement of activities is planned for 2008 or 2009 . Senegal An agreement was signed i n April 2007 for the training of nurses from the dispensaries of the Guinguinéo healthcare district, Fatick medical region, some 250 km from Dakar. On the sidelines of this meeting, an information session on acupuncture was organized by the Chief Medical Officer of the District of Guinguinéo for male and female nurses and midwives of the district. They were highly enthusiastic about the prospect of following this course, and asked many questions about needles, their action on the body’s energies, relationships with Western medicine, and so on. Commencement of activities is planned for April 2008 Bolivia An agreement was signed with the health authorities in November 2007 to train healthcare personnel in the rural areas of the Santa Cruz region. Commencement of activities is planned for November 2008 Further missions are in the course of preparation, with the accent, needless to say, always on the most disadvantaged countries.

Translation Brian Levin