Since 2007, Mission Bambini has helped children with heart defects in underdeveloped countries. Our aim is to tackle the high rate of infant mortality caused by lack of swift medical care. The project has successfully implemented three intervention methods: medical missions abroad; helping to cover medical costs; providing surgery for children in Italy. In the last 8 years, 1,373 children have been saved by heart surgeries performed by our medical team, while 10,732 have been seen by a doctor.
Every year, 1 million children are born with heart defects. Of these, 8 out of every 10 are born in a country which has not yet developed pediatric cardiac surgery. In these cases, the only solution to save their lives is for them to go abroad and receive the surgery there, or to wait for a trained medical team. If they are not treated in time, 50% of them will die before their first birthday and the rest will be at a greatly elevated risk of respiratory or circulatory health problems.
The project will work to solve the problem through three methods of intervention: 1) help cover the medical costs for surgery in the child's home country 2) organise missions abroad by volunteer doctors who will work in collaboration with local doctors 3) provide surgery in Italy for children whose home countries are lacking in suitable facilities. Since 2007, 1,373 children have been saved by heart surgeries carried out by our medical teams, while 10,732 have been seen and advised by a doctor.
Technical training is an integral part of the missions abroad to ensure the sustainability of the project. Mission Bambini's long-term goal is to provide local medical teams with the necessary training and equipment to enable them to perform heart surgery on children independently. In every mission, 10 local doctors are trained by our international medical team. Mission Bambini's aim for 2015 is for 2,800 more children to be seen and advised by our team and for 250 to undergo heart surgery.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
