Coordinating
Mentorship networks linking African physicists with experienced volunteers worldwide.
Radiotherapy access for Africa
Everyone deserves the same chance to beat cancer.
We connect experienced medical physicists worldwide with hospitals and universities across Africa — expanding access to the radiotherapy that two-thirds of cancer patients need.
~20%of Africans can currently access radiotherapy
Working alongside
IAEA
partner NGO
hospital
university
What we do
Six ways we close the cancer-care gap
From mentorship to equipment to research, every effort builds local capacity that lasts.
Disseminating
Seminars, workshops and roundtables that share knowledge with volunteers and clinical staff.
Establishing
Closer working links between radiation-oncology professionals, universities and students.
Consulting
Advice on equipment purchases, shielding construction, quality assurance and radiation protection.
Organising
Needs-led donations of radiation equipment to clinics and teaching hospitals.
Research
Collaboration and publication advancing medical physics across the continent.
~0.4radiotherapy machines per million people in sub-Saharan Africa
20+African countries with no radiotherapy facility
Globaldiaspora expertise connected to local capacity-building work
About us
A volunteer network, registered in Germany
Mephida e.V. is a non-profit founded by medical physicists working abroad who wanted to give back. We are volunteer-led and based in Edewecht, Germany — channelling diaspora expertise and partners worldwide into the hospitals and universities building radiotherapy capacity across Africa.
MentorEquipAdvocateResearch
Featured project
Your support, made concrete
Mbingo Baptist Hospital — Radiotherapy
Helping a 310-bed hospital in Cameroon’s Northwest highlands build the country’s radiotherapy capacity.
From the news feed
The latest in African cancer care
Radiotherapy Becomes a Reality in Benin as CHIC Begins Patient Treatments
Benin has reached a major milestone in cancer care with the launch of radiotherapy services at the Centre Hospitalier International de Calavi (CHIC). The first patient was treated on 15 April 2026, expanding access to advanced oncology treatment within Benin and reducing the need for patients to seek care abroad.
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Featured article from Mephida Symposium 2020 : Mobilising stakeholders to improve access to state-of-the-art radiotherapy in low- and middle-income countries
On 24 October 2020, MephidA e.V., together with Camfomedics e.V. and the Harvard-based Global Health Catalyst, hosted a virtual symposium from Oldenburg, Germany, titled "Reducing the Cancer Burden: Technical and Structural Challenges in Low-Income Countries." The meeting brought together radiotherapy equipment vendors, dosimetry providers, and oncology and medical physics experts to confront the persistent shortfall of radiotherapy services across African LMICs — and to chart practical paths forward, from telemedicine-supported expert review to solar-powered treatment infrastructure. The findings were later published in ecancermedicalscience (2021).
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A roadmap to scale radiotherapy access in sub-Saharan Africa
A practical overview of the workforce, equipment, investment and policy work needed to close the treatment gap.
Read article →Help build radiotherapy capacity in Africa
Contribute expertise, institutional support or a donation.