Vatican offers first-aid kits to members of synod for Africa

Vatican City: October 22, 2009, (PCTV Newsdesk)

After asking for Pope Benedict XVI's blessing, the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry gave first-aid kits to the 275 members of the Synod of Bishops for Africa.

Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the health care council, said the gifts were a "small sign of solidarity and communion with the populations of the African continent."

The kits are small so they can be transported easily, especially in parts of the world where health care workers often travel great distances to reach rural areas, the council said in a statement.

Taiwan's embassy to the Vatican gave the 275 medical kits to the council for distribution. According to the Vatican, the first-aid kits contain devices for measuring blood pressure, sugar levels and heart rate, as well as the standard bandages, gauze and disinfectant.

Before distributing the kits, Archbishop Zimowski asked Pope Benedict "to bless these kits, and thereby all the sick and suffering of the African continent."