A look back at our 1st mission in Guinea!
The Association organizes on average 4 to 6 missions abroad per year. Some are "follow-up missions", when we go to countries we have been to before, and others are "discovery missions", when we send a team to a country we have never been to before. This was the case for the mission to Guinea from November 25 to December 1, 2022.
At the end of 2022, a team went to Conakry in Guinea for the first time. Although we had already operated on 80 children from this country, no mission had yet been carried out there.
An essential mission for Guinean children with heart disease
The objectives of this mission :
- Revisit children who have already undergone surgery
- Screening children for heart disease
- Meet local players in the field of pediatrics to forge solid ties
- Training Guinean doctors in cardiopediatrics
The team, comprising cardiopediatrician Dr Marielle Gouton, Esen Dalmaz and Marie Bruchet, permanent members of the Association's medical team, was eagerly awaited.
In this country, where access to cardiopediatrics is difficult for local populations, particularly in rural areas, due to a lack of financial resources and specialists, some families who have come from afar (sometimes 4 days' drive!) have no hesitation in waiting long hours or sleeping in the waiting room to be sure of being seen.
Days dedicated to consultations
Every day, at Conakry's Ignace Deen National Hospital, dozens of little patients benefit from a free consultation with our cardiopediatrician, followed by a social survey that enables us to get to know the child and his or her living conditions.
As part of their follow-up, 71 children from all over the country were called in by our referring physician, Dr Bassirou Bah. 33 of them turned up, and we're delighted to have found them transformed by their surgery. Others, already operated on, need a repeat operation to complete the procedure designed to repair their hearts.
As for screening, Dr. Gouton consulted 104 children, including 60 with an urgent surgical indication, whose files are being studied by our medical staff in France. The first patients will soon be arriving in France for heart surgery.
A highly committed referral doctor at our side
Nearly half of the Guinean children operated on by our association were between 2021 and 2022, thanks to our collaboration with Dr. Bassirou Bah and his team, who spare no effort in assisting children with heart disease, monitoring patients over time and making quality diagnoses.
In addition to consultations, our team met with several partners resident in the country who could work with us to facilitate the care of Guinean children, as well as with local doctors as part of our cardiopediatric training program.
5/5 Training: a real success in the country
The Formation 5/5 program is highly appreciated in Guinea, and has already trained 12 doctors in the country, 50% of whom work regularly with the Association on requests for surgical care for their patients. This strong dynamism has strengthened our network of doctors locally, and demand continues to grow, with 35 new doctor registrations in 2022.
The results of this mission are positive in terms of the objectives we had set ourselves. We'd like to return to Guinea, to a more remote region of the capital, where there are no pediatricians or cardiologists, to help the children who didn't have the opportunity to come and meet us in Conakry.
