formerly the Aberdeen West Africa Fistula Center. The Aberdeen Women's Centre is one of the few locations on the African continent offering obstetric fistula repair for women who have been injured during childbirth. Started by Mercy Ships with the Ministry of Health, Addax Foundation and other partners, the Fistula Centre is now operated by the Gloag Foundation (UK). Republic of Congo The Mercy Ships 2013 field service in Pointe Noire marked the first visit by a Mercy Ship to the Republic of Congo. Mercy Ships partnered with the country's Ministry of Health, and programs addressed requests by the authorities in Congo-Brazzaville to support continuing education opportunities for practicing professionals. Those included mentoring and training in nursing, anesthesiology, infection control, cataract removal surgery, basic surgical skills, trauma care, newborn resuscitation, palliative care, midwifery, and community health education. Mercy Ships partnered with local hospital infrastructures to help improve quality of care, teamwork and communication. Madagascar The 2015–2016 field service was the third Mercy Ships visit to Madagascar, located off the southeastern coast of Africa. Madagascar is the world's fourth-largest island nation. A political crisis in recent years has hampered the nation's ability to meet a number of millennium development goals and has taken a heavy toll on Madagascar's economy and people. According to the office of the President of Madagascar, there was a clear and important need for the expertise Mercy Ships brought to the nation, both in terms of specialized surgical and medical care as well as healthcare training and capacity building. Benin The 2016–2017 field service of the Africa Mercy took place in Cotonou, Benin, where the hospital ship docked from August 2016 through to June 2017. During the ship's 10-month stay in the port of Cotonou, Mercy Ships provided over 1,793 free surgeries for adult and child patients on board. The volunteer crew treated 6,942 people at a land-based dental clinic, mentored 88 Beninese healthcare professionals, and trained 1,874 participants in medical capacity building courses such as Essential Surgical Skills, Primary Trauma, Safe Anesthesia, and more. Cameroon The 2017–2018 field service of the Africa Mercy was completed in June 2018. During this port stay, Mercy Ships provided more than 2,508 surgeries for adult and child patients on board, treated more than 9,000 at a land-based dental clinic, and provided capacity building medical training courses to 1,475 Cameroonian healthcare professionals. These courses included SAFE Obstetric Anesthesia, SAFE Pediatric Anesthesia, Essential