Little hearts. Big hope.
HOPE for Little Hearts Foundation works with Mogadishu Heart Center so children in Somalia with heart disease are found early, treated free of charge and followed up at home.
Profile
HOPE for Little Hearts Foundation
HOPE for Little Hearts Foundation supports children born with heart disease, and the families who care for them, across Africa. It was founded by dedicated interventional cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, paediatricians and community activists. Its work is rooted in East Africa and Somalia, where it is the main partner of Mogadishu Heart Center.
- Organisation
- HOPE for Little Hearts Foundation
- Focus
- Children with heart disease, including congenital heart disease
- Regions
- Africa, East Africa, Somalia
- Main partner
- Mogadishu Heart Center, Mogadishu Health Cluster, Somalia
- Approach
- Reverse charity-based surgery as a bridge to local care
- Telephone
- +252 770105070 / +252 770104070
- [email protected]
- Founders
- Dedicated interventional cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, paediatricians and community activists
Our approach
A bridge to care at home
Children with complex heart disease cannot wait years for a full local programme. Reverse charity-based surgery treats them now while Somali services grow. HOPE for Little Hearts Foundation sets this out in its article Beyond Short-Term Cardiac Missions: Reverse Charity-Based Surgery as a Bridge for Congenital Heart Disease Care in LMICs.
Find
Local detection and screening: echo diagnosis, assessment, prioritisation and family counselling.
Treat
Sponsored surgery abroad: partner hospitals give free or sponsored surgery for complex congenital heart disease.
Return
Safe return and follow-up: discharge summaries, medicines, echo follow-up and care at home.
Build
Capacity building: training, data systems and partnerships that grow local services step by step.
Not isolated missions, but structured pathways. Not one-time rescue, but continuity of care. Not dependency, but progressive local ownership.
How to help
Free surgery is not yet free access
Families still face costs around treatment that carries no fee. Donors, NGOs and partners can cover:
- Medical visas and documents
- Travel for the child and a caregiver
- Accommodation near host hospitals
- Food and living stipends
- Patient navigation: documents, translation, safe return
- Follow-up between host hospitals and the home centre
The goal
Independence in heart care
Somalia treating its own children with its own teams, equipment and systems. That means local capacity, training and keeping Somali specialists, equipment and infrastructure, and shared resources between partners.
Heart Hero Day
A day to honour the little heroes
It recognises the children of Somalia who faced heart disease with courage, and the families who stood beside them. It also thanks the paediatricians and referring doctors whose early recognition and referrals put these children on the path to treatment.
Donate or sponsor
Give a child a healthy heart
Treatment is free for the family. What is not free is everything around it: the screening, the journey, the stay and the follow-up. Choose the part of a child's journey you want to carry.
Samafalkaagu wuxuu badbaadin karaa wadnaha ilmo.
-
1 · Find
An echo screening
A heart scan that finds the problem early, before it becomes an emergency.
Sponsor a screening -
2 · Treat
A journey to surgery
Flights for a child and a caregiver to a partner hospital for complex surgery.
Sponsor a journey -
3 · Recover
A safe place to stay
Accommodation, food and daily costs near the hospital, before and after treatment.
Sponsor a stay -
4 · Heal
A whole little heart
Help cover a device closure in the cath lab, so a child can avoid open-heart surgery.
Sponsor a child's treatment
How to give
A child's healthy heart is sadaqah jariyah: a gift whose good keeps growing for years. We also accept zakat.
Call or email and our team will send you payment details and a receipt for your gift.
+252 770105070+252 770104070[email protected]
Call to donate