The United Nations Refugee Agency has announced that Evan Atar Adaha, surgeon and medical director of a hospital in northeastern South Sudan, is the 2018 recipient of the Nansen Refugee Award. The distinction honors extraordinary service to uprooted people.
"Thanks to his tireless efforts, thousands of lives have been saved and countless men, women and children have been offered a new chance to build their future." Filipo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees.
This year, the distinction is awarded to Dr. Atar in recognition of his 20 years of outstanding commitment and tireless efforts to bring medical care to people forced to flee conflict: over 200,000 people, including some 144,000 refugees from Sudan's Blue Nile State.
Under difficult conditions and with very few supplies and equipment, Dr. Atar and his team perform an average of 58 operations a week at Bunj hospital in Maban county. The hospital's only X-ray machine does not work, and the operating theatre is lit by a single ceiling light. Electricity is generated by generators that often break down. As Maban is the only hospital in Upper Nile State, it is regularly overloaded with patients, and services overflow outside its walls.
"We treat everyone here, regardless of who they are: refugees, IDPs, members of host communities." ... " What makes me happy is realizing that my work has spared suffering or saved someone's life." Evan Atar Adaha, surgeon.
Originally from Torit, a town in southern Sudan, Evan Atar Adaha won a scholarship to study medicine in Khartoum, Sudan, before practicing in Egypt. In 1997, as war raged in the Blue Nile State, he decided to go and work in the region, where he set up his first hospital from scratch in Kurmuk. He worked at the very heart of a major conflict, often under aerial bombardment.
In 2011, intensifying violence forced the doctor to move his previous hospital to the Sudanese state of Blue Nile. He fled with his team and as much equipment as he could carry in a month-long journey.
On his arrival in Bunj, he set up his first operating theatre in an abandoned dispensary, where his first operations were performed on tables stacked one on top of the other. From his base in this small town, he works tirelessly to raise funds and train young people in nursing and obstetrics.
South Sudan is home to some 300,000 refugees, 92% of them Sudanese from the regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, close to the border with South Sudan.
The 2018 Nansen Award ceremony will be held on October 1 in Geneva. The keynote address will be delivered by actress Cate Blanchett, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.