Two young medical engineers are preparing to cross almost 300 kilometres of the Mediterranean by canoe, carrying a message — and a piece of potentially lifesaving technology — from Italy to Tunisia.
Giovanni De Carlo, 27, and Andrea Menga, 23, will set off from Marsala on September 15 and paddle towards Tunis. Their challenge, which they have named The Smuggle, aims to raise awareness and funds for “Safer”, a neonatal respiratory device developed at Milan Polytechnic that can operate without mains electricity or oxygen cylinders.
The two friends are graduates of the Medtec dual-degree programme run by Humanitas University and Milan Polytechnic. De Carlo completed degrees in medicine and biomedical engineering in July, after gaining experience in hospitals in Kenya and Colombia and working with the World Health Organization.
Menga has also combined medicine and engineering with endurance challenges and humanitarian work. He previously cycled from Milan to Puglia in just five days, covering more than 1,000 kilometres while raising tens of thousands of euros for a hospital in Tanzania. He has also volunteered in two African hospitals and is working on an algorithm designed to study epileptic seizures.
Their latest challenge began taking shape a year ago at a conference organised by Cuamm, an Italian organisation working in Africa.
De Carlo was already involved in the Safer project, coordinated by Raffaele Dellacà of Milan Polytechnic. Menga had recently returned from his long-distance cycling challenge, and the two began discussing how they could help bring the technology to hospitals where they had seen its potential first-hand.
The target is to raise €185,000 to produce a Safer device and deliver it to a hospital where the pair believe it could make a significant difference.
The original idea was to travel from Milan to Africa by bicycle. Then De Carlo suggested an alternative.
“Either we go from Milan to Africa by bike, or we go by canoe,” he said.
De Carlo already had competitive canoeing experience. Menga did not, but was willing to learn.
From a training mishap to a Mediterranean crossing
Their preparation has already included some difficult lessons.
In December 2024, the pair capsized during a training session on a lake. De Carlo stayed in the water to keep the canoe afloat while Menga ran for two kilometres, soaking wet and wearing shorts, to retrieve their equipment.
By July, they had completed a continuous 45-kilometre paddle from the Italian islands of Ventotene to Ponza without a support boat.
The Mediterranean crossing will be considerably more demanding.
They will use a double canoe, meaning neither will be able to take a break while the other paddles. A support boat carrying three friends will accompany them, but the two men will have to remain in the canoe and paddle together.
They plan to start at dawn, stop during the hottest part of the day and resume paddling later. Rough seas could force them to halt, while heat, dehydration and exhaustion will present constant challenges.
Their current record is 45 kilometres.
This time, they will attempt almost 300.
A device designed for hospitals without reliable power
At the centre of the challenge is Safer, a neonatal respiratory device designed to address several of the problems faced by hospitals in low-resource settings.
The system combines three tools used to help newborns breathe and, crucially, can operate without a reliable electricity supply or oxygen cylinders.
The need is significant. The two say around 2.5 million newborns die every year, with the overwhelming majority of deaths occurring in developing countries and roughly half linked to respiratory causes.
Both men have seen the challenges directly during their volunteer work.
Menga has worked in hospitals in Tanzania and Kenya, while De Carlo has gained experience in Kenya and Colombia.
“We know the places where equipment like this can save hundreds of lives,” Menga said.
Yet Safer faces a paradox. The technology is designed for some of the world’s poorest hospitals, but those are precisely the markets least able to attract commercial investment. Wealthier healthcare systems, meanwhile, have little need for equipment designed to function without the infrastructure they already possess.
Crossing the Mediterranean in the opposite direction
The symbolism of the journey has also evolved.
The Smuggle was initially planned to start from Lampedusa, an Italian island that has become one of the main entry points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean.
But conversations with people who had made the crossing in the opposite direction changed their plans.
Those migrants had crossed the sea because they had no alternative, often in dangerously overcrowded or unsuitable boats.
De Carlo and Menga decided to change their route but keep the central idea: crossing the Mediterranean in the opposite direction to “smuggle” an opportunity for medical care into places where it is urgently needed.
Their journey will begin at first light on September 15.
For hours each day, the two will paddle towards Tunisia, supported by their companions but unable to relieve each other.
The longest distance they have ever covered together is 45 kilometres.
Now they are preparing to do nearly seven times that distance — for a device they hope can give vulnerable newborns a better chance of survival.
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