"Being a mother in my country requires a lot of sacrifice, due to the lack of medical infrastructure and unsanitary conditions that cause infections, among other problems". This was stated at the University of Navarra by Dr. Celine Tendobi, a gynecologist at Monkole Hospital, who offered a lecture entitled 'S.O.S Giving birth in the Congo', organized by the Clinic's department of Gynecology and Obstetrics and the School of Medicine.

Also participating in the session were Álvaro Perlado, director attachment of Monkole Hospital; Dr. Luis Chiva and Dr. Juan Luis Alcázar, director and co-director of the department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra; and Dr. Secundino Fernández, Dean of the School of Medicine.

Dr. Tendobi explained that tropical or sexually transmitted diseases are also an added problem: "In the Congo every year 24,000 people die from AIDS and 78,000 from malaria".

For his part, Álvaro Perlado described the activities carried out by Monkole Hospital: "We care for underprivileged pregnant women, providing them with medical follow-up before and after childbirth". This attendance is carried out thanks to the Forfait-Mom program "which allows women without resources in Kinshasa to have access to quality health care in an environment of extreme poverty". To date, Monkole has already treated 82,000 patients and offers work to 200 people. 

Of the nearly 80 million inhabitants of the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 60 million live in extreme poverty, mainly in urban areas such as Kinshasa. In addition, 30,000 women die in childbirth every year and more than 20,000 children lose their lives during childbirth or in the days immediately following.

In 1991, the Monkole Hospital was opened in the Congolese capital to provide health services and hospitalization in one of the peripheral neighborhoods of Kinshasa, as well as to promote the Education for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. It is a corporate work of Opus Dei.

In addition, in 2010 the initiative 'Friends of Monkole' was promoted to facilitate access to health care for the most disadvantaged groups in the area, as well as medical care for children without resources that the Monkole Hospital receives and attends to in the Pediatrics and Surgery Service and in the three peripheral clinics that depend on it. partnership For this purpose, it has the support of the NGO ONAY (Organización Navarra para financial aid entre los Pueblos), the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and the Fundació Montblanc.