15 years of life-saving and life-changing operations were celebrated at the recent Monaco Collectif Humanitaire meet, which brought together members from across the worlds of healthcare, charity and government.  

Over the past 15 years, the Monaco Collectif Humanitaire or Monaco Humanitarian Collective has been able to save 515 sick African children who may otherwise have had no chance at getting the urgent care they required.  

Last year, 51 children suffering from heart diseases were looked after by the Monaco Collectif Humanitaire. Six were eventually brought to Monaco and France to receive the operations they needed, whilst the other 45 were able to stay closer to home to get their treatments.  

Since 2019, the Collectif has partnered with the Chaîne de l’Espoir to expand actions in Mali, Madagascar, Senegal and Burkina Faso, and to improve local healthcare conditions to allow many children to avoid travelling to receive care. To date, 80 operations have taken place in these countries.  

The meeting also gave the members in attendance a chance to discuss preparations for the 15th anniversary celebrations, which will take place in Dakar, Senegal in June. The event will be an opportunity to pay tribute to the doctors of the partner countries, local representatives and Monaco Collectif Humanitaire members as well as to gather the children whose lives were changed for the better over the past three years.  

The Monaco Collectif Humanitaire members include: 16 non-governmental organisations from Monaco; three French NGOs; three health centres in Monaco, namely the Centre Cardio-Thoracique de Monaco, the Princess Grace Hospital and the Monegasque Institute of Medicine and Sports Surgery; and four health centres in Africa, including the André Festoc Cardio-Paediatric Centre in Mali, Soavinandriana Hospital Centre in Madagascar, Cuomo Cardio-Paediatric Centre in  Senegal, and the University Hospital Centre in Tingandogo in Burkina Faso. 

For more information on the group and its work, please click here. 

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Photo credit: P. Fitte / MCH