CEML Hospital‘s home city, Lubango, is facing a shortage of gasoline and diesel fuel. With a population of one million and some five thousand autos, the society seems to have literally come to a stop. This photo is illustrative. A line of car fifty cars is parked leading into a gas station, and the drivers mill around the pump awaiting the uncertain arrival of a fuel truck.
What does this have to do with healthcare? All social institutions are connected with one another. Without fuel, CEML employees cannot find transport to work. Without fuel, patients often cannot work their jobs and thus earn income to pay for healthcare. Without fuel, the often-needed backup electricity generators necessary for CEML surgeries and laboratory cannot function. And in cases of emergency transport, how can an ambulance running on empty deliver an injured person in time? Economic health is essential to life as a whole. Just ask these motorists.