The tragic news of the untimely death of Gino Strada hits hard to the heart of Italy and the world. The doctor and activist only had 73 years and this is confirmed by sources close to the family. Sick for some time, absolute secrecy is falling around the causes of death for now.
He found his place in history by founding Emergency. He has devoted his entire life to fighting for human rights, especially in Africa and the Middle East. An example to follow, able to leave a real mark on the world. The void it leaves behind is one that cannot be filled.
A teaching for the whole world, forcefully transmitted to Cecilia Road, daughter of Gino and Teresa. In one of his posts you can read: “My dad is gone. I cannot reply to the messages because I am in the middle of the sea. We just made a rescue. I wasn't with him but I was here saving lives. That's what my father and mother taught me ”.
Who was Gino Strada
The news of his death surprised everyone, to the point that finding himself talking about him in the past tense is something inconceivable. His life will always be remembered with four titles:
- medical health insurance company
- activist
- philanthropist
- founder of Emergency
Elements of an extraordinary life, mostly committed to helping others, together with his wife Teresa Sarti, in turn founder of the Italian NGO. Born in Sesto San Giovanni on 21 April 1948, he had attended the Carducci classical high school, and then followed his studies at the State University of Milan, graduating in Medicine and Surgery in 1978, specializing in Emergency Surgery.
He is a thirty year old with clear ideas, committed among the activists of the Student Movement. He decides to leave for the United States to complete his training. He lived for four years, in the '80s, in the USA, dealing with heart and heart-lung transplant surgery in Stanford and Pittsburgh.
Traveling has always been part of his life experience. He moves to England and South Africa, following training courses at Harefield and Groote Schuur Hospital (Cape Town). In 1988 he decided to put his skills at the service of the assistance of war wounded. At this stage everything changes forever. His desire to help others pushes him to work with International Red Cross in the following countries:
- Pakistan
- Ethiopia
- Thailand
- Afghanista
- Perù
- Gibuti
- Somalia
- Bosnia
The birth of Emergency
The world needed and needed people like Gino Strada, whose first project with his NGO was in Rwanda, during the genocide. He then stayed for several years in Cambodia and in 1998 he was in Afghanistan. A territory, the latter, which sees him busy for seven years. A long period that allows the opening of different projects in the country, after the surgical center in the Panshir Valley.
The experience with the Red Cross lasted until 1994, when he decided, together with his wife Teresa Sarti and some colleagues and friends, to found Emergency. This is an independent and neutral association, whose sole purpose is to bring high quality medical-surgical care to territories subject to constant conflict. All absolutely free. In 2005, work began on the opening of the Salam Center in Sudan, the first totally free heart surgery center in Africa. Emergency has been present in Sierra Leone since 2001, where Strada went in 2014 for the Ebola emergency, treating over 11 million people.
Source of the photograph in evidence: Matteo Masolini CC BY-SA 2.0
