The Cuomo Cardiopediatric Center in Dakar celebrates the 1,000th patient operated on since its opening in 2017

On February 28, a ceremony will be held to mark the 1,000th patient operated on at the Cuomo Cardiopediatric Center (CCPC), in the presence of the partners behind this structure created as part of La Chaîne de l’Espoir’s program to support the development of cardiac surgery in Senegal and West Africa.

The Director of the CHNU de Fann, Pr Cheikh Tacko Diop, Madame Elena Cuomo for the Cuomo Foundation, the Senegalese Minister of Health, Docteur Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye, Pr Alain Deloche for La Chaîne de l’Espoir, a representative of Laboratoires Servier and members of the diplomatic corps will all be present at the CHNU de Fann. Patients previously operated on at the Center and their families will also be present.

The Cuomo Cardiopediatric Center, located within the Fann CHNU, is the 1st center built and opened by La Chaîne de l’Espoir in West Africa. It has become a reference and training center for the management of cardiac pathologies in children in Senegal, which also benefits countries in the sub-region.

The medical teams working at the center received training in 2014, including a 6-month immersion at the Heart Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They are now completely autonomous.

Fully committed to the South-South cooperation program developed by La Chaîne de l’Espoir over many years, Prof. Gabriel Ciss, head of the CCPC, and his team are involved in training their counterparts in neighboring countries. They host medical teams for training courses, and travel to countries in the sub-region, such as Mali and Burkina Faso, for operations and training missions.

In the Children’s Pavilion built and opened by La Chaîne de l’Espoir in 2017, the CCPC also welcomes children from countries in the sub-region where the treatment of cardiac pathologies, are still impossible to achieve.

7 children from Guinea Conakry, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo, all carriers of serious heart disease, will be welcomed at the Pavillon des Enfants. Their arrival is scheduled for around February 25.

Built by La Chaîne de l’Espoir with funding from the Cuomo Foundation, this center equipped to international standards and opened in November 2016, is a reference and training center for Senegal and neighboring countries. It offers medical and social care for impoverished families in socio-economic situations too fragile to finance such an operation.