La Chaîne de l’Espoir’s dual mission in Jordan: cardiac and orthopaedic surgery

From June 14 to 22, 2021, two La Chaîne de l’Espoir teams specializing in pediatric orthopedic and cardiac surgery will travel to Amman to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children living in Jordan.

A team led by orthopedic surgeons Dr Philippe Valenti and Dr Thibault Lafosse, and anesthetist Dr Gilles Dumenil, will be in Amman from June 18 to 22 to operate on children and young adults born with orthopedic congenital deformities at the Dar Al Salam Hospital.

Every year, almost 3,000 newborns are born with congenital hip dislocation and over 250 babies with clubfoot. Medical and surgical care for these children is too expensive for vulnerable families living in Jordan, where 86% of refugees live below the poverty line.

Unfortunately, these disabling malformations are rarely treated, and the children grow up with disabilities that compromise their future and that of their families, leading to social, educational and professional exclusion.

In addition to medical and surgical care, La Chaîne de l’Espoir has set up early detection and screening campaigns with the support of local NGOs, medical staff and community networks.

Support for the training of healthcare staff in screening, diagnosis, referral, treatment and follow-up of young patients completes this program. In 2020, 300 healthcare staff benefited from this training and 1,000 screening consultations were carried out.

The accompanying cardiac surgery mission will run from June 14 to June 20. It will be led by Dr Tomasa Centella (Spanish) and Dr Stefano Marianeschi (Italian), accompanied by a Spanish nurse. A dozen children selected in advance by the Jordanian teams will be operated on during this mission.

These two joint missions are being carried out with the financial support of the European Union – Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) and La Chaîne de l’Espoir. They are also supported by the French Embassy in Jordan and the Jordanian Ministry of Health.

La Chaîne de l’Espoir is an international NGO founded in 1994 and present in nearly 30 countries. Its mission is to strengthen healthcare systems to give everyone, especially children, the same chances of survival and development.