Our projects for 2018

Medical and surgical missions will continue in 2018 :

• In Mali, the programme initiated in January will continue with missions of reconstructive surgery of the face to treat cases of noma, harelip and burn sequelae.
• In Burkina Faso, the programme for noma’s child victims financed by AFD (Agence Française de Développement) started in early 2018. Several missions of reconstructive surgery of the face are scheduled throughout the year.
• In Togo, itinerant missions will be maintained. They will focus on orthopaedic, visceral and reconstructive paediatric surgery. Teams will travel to Benin in the second half of 2018.
• La Chaîne de l’Espoir arrives in Madagascar. At least two missions of closed-heart surgery will be deployed. A staff will be present locally for monitoring and screening. The programme will also have a training component for local practitioners in France. Furthermore, a set up to transfer Malagasy children to Saint-Denis de la Réunion should start at the beginning of 2018.
• In Afghanistan, activities at the maternity ward will continue to increase and the programme of health care access provided at the Mother & Children’s Pavilion will be strengthened.
• In Cambodia, the twice-yearly support missions of Pr Gérard Babatasi and that of Pr Olivier Baron will be renewed in cardiac surgery in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and in neurology at Kantha Bopha hospital in Siem Reap.
• In Jordan, cardiac and orthopaedic surgery missions will be organised. Missions for the first quarter of 2018 have already been scheduled.
• Lastly, as part of the treatment of children in France, over one hundred children will be transferred for surgery in Paris or in one of our regional branches. 

The training and support of local practitioners are vital to the proper functioning of the new structures and are also a key to empowering local teams.

• A medical team of the future André Festoc Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Unit currently under construction in Mali is in Tunis since December 2017 undergoing a 6-month training.
• The support programme in the Postgraduate Diploma in Paediatric Surgery in West Africa will be pursued in 2018 with the organisation of two seminars in five African countries.
• In Haiti, the paediatrics specialisation nursing programme will evolve in 2018. In addition to the general specialisation, three sub-specialties will also be implemented as early as this year: neonatology, anaesthesiology and school health.

All over the world, training remains one of the primary interests of the missions sent abroad by La Chaîne de l’Espoir.

• In Mali, the construction site of the André Festoc Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Unit of the Luxembourg Mother-Child Hospital (LMCH) is still moving along. Delivery is planned for the end of March 2018. The first surgeries could be performed as early as next September.
• In Senegal, the Cuomo Centre for Paediatric Cardiology of the Fann Hospital in Dakar was inaugurated at the beginning of February 2018, after a first year of operations. 
• In the Ivory Coast, 2018 is the year of the inauguration of the Mother-Child hospital in Bingerville. This hospital, built with the financing of the Children of Africa Foundation of Mrs Dominique Ouattara, will offer quality care adapted to the needs of all. As for surgery, fifteen missions of expertise, training and management are planned in 2018.
• In Iran, the works for the project of the Zanjireh Omid hospital for children will begin in the first six months of 2018. It is a new step in the long and fruitful cooperation between La Chaîne de l’Espoir and its Iranian partner. 

• In Togo, the 600 sponsored children will continue to enjoy material support. Additionally, La Chaîne de l’Espoir will contribute to the action of the Togolese Ministry of Labour in the organisation of training sessions in growth occupations such as sewing, hairdressing or mechanics. School health services and canteen schemes will also continue.
• The action of the La Chaîne de l’Espoir in Thailand will evolve with the gradual replacement of the scholarship system by socio-educational projects focusing on health school, oral prevention and reproductive and sexual health. School canteens are also developed in secondary education and the programme enabling the identification of vulnerable children will be maintained.
• In Haiti, efforts will continue to offer children good learning conditions at school and strengthen care offer and prevention through a dedicated health centre.
• In India, La Chaîne de l’Espoir wishes to place on a permanent footing the programme designed to offer access to quality education and care for vulnerable children in Jaipur.
• In Nepal, the new Family Care Centres will gradually replace current structures. The purpose is to provide children with better care and a more secure family environment.