Sierra Leone, with 7.5 million people, has a huge unmet need for pediatric surgery. BethanyKids is helping to meet that need through Dr. Aiah Lebbie. He was trained by and now works with BethanyKids as the only certified pediatric surgeon in the country. He works in three hospitals-the Connaught government hospital in Freetown, the Holy Spirit Hospital in Makeni, and the Adama Martha Memorial Hospital in the Kono District. Every other weekend he visits more rural areas to perform minor surgery.
95% of Sub-Saharan Africa's population does not have access to surgery. In many African nations, a child with a birth defect such as spina bifida or hydrocephalus, a disability, or any other condition requiring surgery, has almost no opportunity to get necessary treatment. Surgical care is mostly unavailable and not affordable for the average African family. Children face the harsh reality of never receiving critically needed care. Many children don't survive.
One of BethanyKids' key values is that no child should be denied surgery because of lack of funds. Children who might be thought of as worthless can, through surgery, gain independence and a chance to succeed in life. BethanyKids has provided operations for many thousands of children since beginning work in Kenya in 2004. Through our pediatric surgery training program, we now have fully trained pediatric surgeons in Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Madagascar, and Kenya.
Many of the children we have cared for are now able to attend school and ultimately have the opportunity to earn a living independently instead of relying on someone else to care for them. Frightened moms and dads are given hope for their children's future. Alice, who was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, is now thriving and growing. Davis, Mwangangi, Mercy, Collins, Joseph, and thousands of precious children are now running, laughing, attending school, and delighting their parents!
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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