Care and surgery
Training and skills transfer
Building and equipping hospitals
Prevention and screening
Emergencies and humanitarian crises
Maternal health
Mozambique
Axes of intervention
Care and surgery- Training and skills transfer
Start of mission: 2001
Since 2001, La Chaîne de l'Espoir has supported the construction and development of the Heart Institute in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, to create paediatric cardiological surgery expertise in the country.
Background
Humanitarian emergency in Mozambique
30% of the population
of Mozambique have no access to health services.
0.1 doctor
per 1,000 inhabitants in Mozambique (compared with 3.39 in France).
64% of the population
Mozambicans live below the poverty line.
Source: USAID, World Bank, AFD
Located in south-east Africa, Mozambique is heavily affected by poverty. More than half of Mozambique‘s 34,000 million inhabitants live in precarious conditions and have no access to healthcare infrastructures. These are rudimentary in many parts of the country. For example, Mozambique has a very high infant mortality rate, with 70 deaths of children under 5 per 1,000 live births – compared with 4 in France (World Bank, 2021).
Until the inauguration of the Maputo Heart Institute (ICOR) in 2001, very few Mozambican children suffering from heart disease could undergo closed-heart surgery, and none open-heart. Their only chance of survival was to be treated abroad (in South Africa in particular) by a hospital with the appropriate equipment and medical teams trained in this complex surgery.
It is to fight against this injustice that La Chaîne de l’Espoir has mobilized through humanitarian missions in Mozambique , by participating in the creation of the ICOR.
Today, this private, not-for-profit establishment is financially autonomous and has become the country’s reference center for pediatric cardiac surgery. It operates on more than 180 children a year.
Our humanitarian action for children in Mozambique
Creating pediatric cardiac surgery expertise in the country
La Chaîne de l’Espoir’s first humanitarian actions in Mozambique date back to the 90s. At the time, expertise in pediatric cardiac surgery was virtually non-existent in the country. Our first mission was to transfer Mozambican children suffering from serious heart disease to France for surgery, thanks to our Children’s Care in France program.
To intensify our humanitarian action in Mozambique, our ambition was to create a high-quality pediatric cardiac surgery center: the Maputo Heart Institute, which opened its doors in 2001.
“We had to build the building and equip it, as well as train the cardiac surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, resuscitators… thanks to partnerships with European hospitals (mainly French and Portuguese). It was finally in 2010 that we were able to operate autonomously throughout the year – first for the simplest cardiopathies, then increasingly complex ones.”
Dr Beatriz Ferreira, cardiologist and Director of the ICOR
To support this increase in skills, La Chaîne de l’Espoir organizes one or two medical-surgical missions to the ICOR every year.
These humanitarian missions to Mozambique would not have been possible without the unfailing commitment of the pediatric cardiology team at Necker Hospital in Paris, who have been fully mobilized to share their know-how with their Mozambican colleagues.
In parallel with these missions, remote ultrasound sessions using the echoes® platform are regularly organized, enabling cross-diagnosis with other French healthcare professionals.
“We’ve gained in autonomy, but these missions are still invaluable moments of exchange. They continue to represent an important part of our training, as we now concentrate on cases requiring the most sophisticated operations,” says Dr Beatriz Ferreira, cardiologist and director of the ICOR.
Over the years, the Institut du Cœur has diversified its activities. In this way, it has found the financial equilibrium that enables it to provide long-term care for as many children as possible, including those from the poorest families. In addition to its expertise in cardiac surgery, the ICOR offers services in general medicine, ophthalmology, orthopedics, medical imaging and analysis, and pharmacy.
Accessible care for all thanks to the Children’s Pavilion
The Heart Institute is the only one of its kind in Mozambique. To enable all sick children to be cared for – even those living in the most remote areas – La Chaîne de l’Espoir has opened the Children’s Pavilion, located close to the ICOR.
Since 2015, sick children and a member of their family can be accommodated and accompanied from the pre-operative period through to convalescence.
Every year, around a hundred children are welcomed.
A reference in the country and the sub-region
Thanks to the expertise they have acquired over the years, the Institut du Cœur’s medical teams are in turn helping to train their colleagues from other hospitals in the country (notably the Maputo Central Hospital) to share their know-how in pediatric cardiac surgery. This exchange of know-how is a fine example of the kind of South-South cooperation we are keen to develop.
Similarly, thanks to their ability to treat a wide range of heart diseases and to carry out closed and open-heart surgery, children from neighboring countries are now welcomed and cared for here.
In addition, every year the French Embassy in Mozambique provides training for ICOR medical and paramedical staff in France.
Our partners
They support our humanitarian aid
in Mozambique
No linked partners found.
Photos: La Chaîne de l’Espoir
