Annual meeting of Monaco Collectif Humanitaire: 2023 in review
On Tuesday 19th March 2024, Monaco Collectif Humanitaire (MCH) held its traditional annual meeting to review the past year. A very positive review with 57 children receiving heart surgery, i.e. 572 children since the launch of the programme in 2008.
Among these children, 6 were given treatment in Monaco whilst the other 51 children underwent surgery directly in their country of residence, in Mali, Madagascar, Senegal and Burkina Faso, thanks to a partnership with the Chaîne de l’Espoir. In 2023, 90% of all surgical procedures funded by MCH were performed locally thanks to the strengthening of skills of local structures.
Professor Alain Deloche, an eminent heart surgeon and Founder of the Chaîne de l’Espoir, was keen to stress the level of excellence achieved by the Cuomo Centre for Paediatric Cardiology in Dakar which, in addition to being a cutting-edge centre for surgery, is now also a training centre for the sub-region.
For the most serious cases that are non-operable directly on site, surgery continues to be provided in Monaco at one of the partner healthcare centres .
A virtual meeting bringing together associations, healthcare facilities, local correspondents and the Government of Monaco, also provided an opportunity to look back at the events that marked the past year, including the Collectif’s 15th Anniversary Ceremony held in Dakar on 2nd December 2023.
As regard prospects for 2024, several points were discussed, including the possibility of funding operations in Mauritania and the opening of a “capacity building” component with the technical support of the SHARE association and financial support from AMADE.
Finally the importance of continuing to mobilise funds in the years ahead was reaffirmed and sincere thanks were given to the association Children & Future, the Collectif’s largest donor.
As a reminder, MCH is a solidarity chain grouping together 16 Monegasque Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), 3 French NGOs, 3 healthcare centres in Monaco (Cardiothoracic Centre Monaco, Princess Grace Hospital, Monaco Institute of Sports Medicine and Surgery (IM2S), and 4 in Africa (André Festoc Centre for Paediatric Cardiology in Bamako, Mali, Soavinandriana Hospital (CENHOSOA) in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Centre for Paediatric Cardiology in Dakar, Senegal, Tingandogo University Hospital in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso).
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