Togo: 13 more incubators for the Saint John of God Hospital in Afagnan (Togo, Africa)
Romeo was born on 31 December 2025 at the Saint John of God Hospital in Afagnan, Togo. Extremely premature, he spent his first days inside an IncuNest incubator. Four months later, while we were there, he came back to the hospital for a check-up: his eyes are now wide open and he is afraid of nothing…
That is what our incubators do. That is what we went to Togo to do.
2.35% mortality in Togo compared with 0.33% in Europe
Togo is a West African country between Ghana and Benin, with access to the sea. It is one of the smallest countries on the continent, but has one of the highest population densities in the region. Its neonatal mortality rate is approximately 23.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, and only 69% of births are attended by qualified health personnel, a figure that drops sharply in the rural areas of the north. The EU average is 3.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. A baby born in Togo is 7 times more likely to die in its first 28 days than one born in the EU.
13 black suitcases, 13 incubators
In April we travelled to Afagnan with a group of friends: the team from Telva magazine, who joined us as part of the International Solidarity Award they gave us this year, and 13 black Primark suitcases (ugly but very useful). Inside, disassembled but ready to use at their destination, were 13 IncuNest incubators.
Ángela Sosa, a Colombian nurse who spends her holidays volunteering in hospitals in Togo and Benin, had asked us for them. She found us on social media, got in touch, and in October 2025 we sent the first two. Dozens of premature babies have been cared for in them, Romeo among them. Seeing that they were fulfilling their mission, Ángela asked for 10 more for Togo and 3 for Benin, where she runs a similar project.
And this is how it works: someone on the ground discovers the need for incubators and asks us for them, and we find a way to get them there. This time Telva donated them, and the MOW team wanted to go in person.
10 of the incubators we brought will stay at the Afagnan hospital, where Ángela is driving a neonatology project. The other 3 will go to the hospital in Tanguiéta, Benin.
A small hold-up at customs
We arrived at the airport in the early hours, tired but ready to keep working. And the 13 suitcases stayed behind… they were held at customs for 6 hours. 6 hours of conversations, and in the end they got through… The incubators always arrive.
From there, five days in Afagnan assembling incubators, leaving them fully installed and getting to know first-hand the neonatal unit the hospital is setting up.
Our goal for 2026 is to reach 230. We are racing against the clock. Every year 1.5 million premature babies die worldwide because they have no access to an incubator. 75% of those deaths are preventable with the right equipment, and in Afagnan that equipment is now there
