Life and Death inside the Gambo Rural Hospital

The Gambo General Hospital is a healthcare centre located in the southern part of Ethiopia’s Oromiya region. Its location helps decentralise and extend medical services within the country to those living in this isolated, rural area. Many living in the Oromiya region cannot travel to big cities to seek medical assistance due to extreme poverty and the poor state of the roads.
Since first visiting the hospital, I became captivated by its atmosphere and by the highly committed individuals working there. Therefore, I aim to produce a photojournalistic feature illustrating life inside Gambo Rural Hospital. Death plays an important role inside the hospital. But so, too, does life. It is the only health centre in operation within the district of Kore and serves roughly 250 patients per day. And with just three doctors, the hospital is critically understaffed.
I aim to show daily life inside the hospital and the fragile balance between life and death in an unflinching yet intimate way. This work will also be coloured by the strong personal links formed between myself, the dedicated professionals and the patients inside its walls – culminating in a shared experience of human joy, pain and the struggle for survival.