Care and surgery
Training and skills transfer
Building and equipping hospitals
Prevention and screening
Emergencies and humanitarian crises
Maternal health
Senegal
Axes of intervention
Care and surgery- Training and skills transfer
- Building and equipping hospitals
Start of mission: 1994
Senegal is one of the pillars of our action in Africa. For over twenty years, we have been developing a healthcare offer that gives children from vulnerable families throughout West Africa access to heart surgery, cardiology and digestive endoscopy.
Background
Senegal, a pillar of care for children throughout West Africa
170th out of 191 countries
according to the Human Development Index (HDI) in 2022.
+ over 2,000 children
are born each year with a heart defect in Senegal.
80% of these children
born with a heart defect die before the age of 5, for lack of specialized care.
Sources: UNDP (2022 figures) – La Chaîne de l’Espoir
Senegal is one of the most dynamic economies in West Africa. But in 2019, the health crisis brought five years of strong growth to an abrupt halt by halting tourism-related activities. Since then, the population’s living conditions have remained precarious, and have even been made more fragile more recently by the vagaries of climate and fluctuating commodity prices. For the majority of Senegalese families, access to employment and public services, as well as the cost of living, remain a daily concern.
As far as medical facilities are concerned, the population benefits from a good level of basic care, particularly in the towns. However, specialized care, such as treatment for cardiac pathologies and digestive endoscopies (also known as fibroscopies), is inaccessible to a large proportion of the Senegalese population. And yet such care is vital.
Our work in Senegal
The Cuomo Center, a reference center for pediatric cardiac pathologies
For more than twenty years, our work in Senegal has enabled us to develop the existing cardio-pediatric care offer in Senegal and the region. In 2016, we inaugurated the first center dedicated to the care of children with heart disease in West Africa: the Cuomo Cardio-Pediatric Center. The center covers an area of 2,200 m² and is equipped with two operating theatres, intensive care and hospitalization departments, as well as a consultation service. This ambitious project was carried out in partnership with the Cuomo Foundation and the Centre Hospitalier National Universitaire (CHNU) Fann.
This was the first time in its history that La Chaîne de l’Espoir had organized the design, construction and equipping of such a hospital. Since then, the Cuomo Cardio-Pediatric Center has become a medical center of excellence, equipped to international standards and renowned throughout West Africa. It also cares for children from neighboring countries who suffer from heart disease and cannot be treated in their home countries.
Every year, almost 150 children undergo surgery at the Cuomo Center. A large proportion of these operations are carried out independently by local medical teams.
A pool of trainers for the whole of West Africa
Since its inauguration, the Cuomo Pediatric Cardiac Center has become a leading training center for pediatric cardiology. Its medical staff have benefited from collaborations with medical teams from Switzerland, France and Canada, which have contributed to strengthening their skills, particularly in the management of complex cases. The center now welcomes healthcare professionals from other West African countries to further their training in cardiac surgery.
A center of excellence for digestive endoscopy
Digestive endoscopy (also known as fibroscopy) is a medical technique enabling the minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment of many digestive pathologies. Unfortunately, like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal had not benefited from the advances made in this field in recent years.
Since 2021, we have set up a program of excellence at the Hôpital Principal de Dakar. The aim is to create a reference center for the care of digestive pathologies, dedicated in particular to children (diagnosis and minimally invasive endoscopic treatment) and for training in digestive endoscopy.
The importance of this program lies in its ability to improve the care of these young patients by offering more accurate diagnoses and less invasive treatments, thus reducing risks and recovery times.
Under the direction of Prof. Gabriel Rahmi, missions enable doctors and endoscopy assistants to receive specialized training. Internships in France are also offered to Senegalese endoscopists. In collaboration with the simulation center of the Dakar Faculty of Medicine, we also organize practical masterclasses during which practitioners can practice their skills. Since the program was set up, some 50 Senegalese healthcare professionals have been trained each year.
“At the Hôpital Principal de Dakar, Senegalese doctors can now treat children suffering from stenosis caused by caustic soda ingestion, using endoscopic techniques. Our aim is to offer the population minimally invasive treatments, made possible thanks to the training given to our Senegalese colleagues and the technical platform equipped with endoscopes that we have set up in the operating theatre.”
Pr Gabriel Rahmi, hepato-gastroenterologist and volunteer endoscopist with La Chaîne de l’Espoir
Training biomedical engineers and technicians
In 2022, we developed a biomedical training program in partnership with the Université Polytechnique de l’Ouest-Africain (UPOA) in Dakar. Through this program, we offer students training seminars which, in addition to their courses, enable them to enhance their skills in the use and maintenance of biomedical devices and the treatment of biomedical waste. And to develop their practical skills, we have provided equipment on which students can train.
Some of the students at the Polytechnique de l’Ouest-Africain de Dakar, like Senegalese student Jean Diome, have benefited from further training in several French establishments (see video below).
The Children’s Pavilion: a place of welcome and convalescence for children and their families
Children with heart defects come from all over Senegal and West Africa to undergo surgery at the Cuomo Pediatric Cardiac Center. To accompany this course of treatment, the Children’s Pavilion, opened in 2018, was created to offer accommodation to a member of the child’s family and allow young patients to convalesce. This venue, unique in West Africa, provides not only post-operative medical follow-up, but also educational activities and health awareness workshops. This is essential to ensure a full recovery, helping to reduce post-operative complications. Several hundred children have been cared for here since its opening.
Saïdou, a young Togolese boy welcomed at the Pavillon des Enfants in Dakar
The young Togolese, Saïdou, was constantly out of breath and often collapsed. When his parents took him to the nearest medical center, the diagnosis was clear: Saïdou was suffering from a heart murmur and tetralogy of Fallot, a serious heart defect. Unfortunately, it was not possible to operate on him in his own country due to a lack of equipment and qualified medical personnel. With the support of La Chaîne de l’Espoir, Saïdou was transferred to Dakar University Hospital for treatment. Throughout his hospitalization and convalescence, he and his family stayed at the Pavillon des Enfants. Now back in Togo, Saïdou is in perfect health.
Our partners
They support our humanitarian aid
in Senegal
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Photos: Alvaro Laforêt, Pascal Stelletta, La Chaîne de l’Espoir
