Gino has been one of my heroes for many years. 

A war surgeon and human rights activist, Gino Strada has founded EMERGENCY and built it over two decades of tireless commitment into an organisation that has treated 12 million patients since 1994 in 19 different countries inspiring thousands of volunteers. Sadly Gino passed away in the middle of August last year after a long battle, he was 73 and loved his cigarettes a little too much. 

EMERGENCY provides free, high-quality healthcare to victims of war, poverty and landmines alongside building hospitals, maternity centres and training local medical staff in some of the most difficult countries in the world. Currently EMERGENCY operates in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen as well as offering free medical assistance to marginalised communities in Italy. EMERGENCY staff and facilities include those in Sierra Leone established in 2002 that became world famous during the EBOLA crisis in 2014-2016, in Afghanistan in Panshir valley since 1999, in Helmand since 2004 and in Kabul since 2001. In Sudan they open in 2007 the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, the only completely free cardiac hospital in an area that is home to over 300m people.

If you want to know more about Gino and the work of the amazing people at EMERGENCY this article is good start https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/jul/14/gino-strada-emergency-giles-duley

or if you want to get to know more about EMERGENCY and support their work with regular donations please check their pages here https://en.emergency.it

They fund raise in many countries including UK, US and many more https://en.emergency.it/donate/