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Home / Awards / Servitor Pacis Award / 1996 THE SERVITOR PACIS AWARD RECIPIENTS 1996 - Dr. Graziella Fumagalli (in memoriam) Dr. Graziella Fumagalli, born 24 August 1944 in Casatenovo (Como) Italy, a medical doctor who understood well the suffering facing the peoples of Africa, not only victims of tropical diseases, but also those whose lives and families were destroyed by war. Dr. Fumagalli specialized in pediatric surgery and in tropical medicine, working for many years in Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and lastly in Somalia (beginning June 1994). There she devoted herself unreservedly toward the curing of victims of tuberculosis in the city of Merca, where she stayed for six-teen months. She served as Director/Chief of Program of Caritas Italy's Hospital for the Cure of Tuberculosis, overseeing the medical center caring for 100 residential patients as well as 400 clinics. During her service she refused to be pressured or frightened by authorities, nor would she accept their support, lest she incur any obligation or indebtedness to a particular clan or faction. On the morning of 22 October 1995 two armed persons entered the hospital, killing Dr. Fumagalli and wounding Mr. Cristoforo Andreoli, a laboratory technician from Salerno, Italy. This attack marked the first time in Somalia whereby volunteers of a church organization were victims of such violence. The hospital, officially known as the "Centro Antitubercolare della Caritas Italiana" is the only facility in all of Somalia ordered to curing victims of TB, a disease still widespread in that country. When the last United Nations peace-keeping forces withdrew from Somalia, Caritas Italy, after serious reflection, chose to remain there to face the serious health situation plaguing the people.
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