Save A Child’s Heart’s Action in Tanzania

Save a Child’s Heart is an international non-profit organization with the mission of improving the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children in developing countries and creating centers of competence in these countries. Save a Child’s Heart's goal is to improve the health and welfare of all children, regardless of the child's religion, gender or nationality.

Save a Child’s Heart was founded in 1995 at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel, and holds preoperative and follow up cardiology clinics in Israel and abroad on a weekly basis, offers a comprehensive training program within Israel for doctors and nurses from developing countries and leads surgical and teaching missions to partner countries. 

Since its creation, Save a Child's Heart has treated more than 4,900 children suffering from congenital and rheumatic heart disease. The annual number of children treated has grown dramatically from 48 cases in 1996 to over 370 in 2018.

The children helped are treated at the Wolfson Medical Center and housed at the Legacy Heritage Children’s Home of Save a Child’s Heart, both located in Holon. They come from around the globe, from more than 50 countries where adequate medical care is simply unavailable.

Approximately 50% of the children are from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco, more than 40% are from Africa, and the remainder are from Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Americas.

Tragically, there are countries around the world that simply don’t have the resources or the doctors to save the lives of children. The ultimate goal of Save a Child’s Heart is to create centers of medical competence in developing countries so that children can be treated independently in their own communities.
‍
At the Wolfson Medical Center in Israel, Save a Child’s Heart brings medical personnel from partner sites around the globe to take part in the Save a Child’s Heart outreach training program. Medical personnel receive in-depth post-graduate training in all facets of pediatric cardiac care, including cardiology, surgery, anesthesia, intensive care, perfusion and nursing.

Training programs vary from three months to five years and are all held under the auspices of the Sackler School of Medicine of the Tel Aviv University and the Center for International Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry of Israel – MASHAV. The annual cost to train one physician is $25,000.

A Few Missions led in Tanzania & Zanzibar in 2017-2018

Tanzania Mission - November 2017

Save a Child’s Heart can happily report on the successful joint German-Israeli-Tanzanian Teaching and Catheterization Mission that took place in the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from November 23rd to November 27th, 2017. The mission was made possible by funding from Save a Child's Heart Canada.

During this mission, 16 children underwent lifesaving catheterizations, more than 60 children were screened and diagnosed, and major achievements in training were made with our Tanzanian partners. 

The medical team was comprised of Dr. Katharina Rose Schmitt, representative of our German partner hospital in Berlin the Deutsches Herzzentrum (DHZ) under the leadership of Prof. Felix Berger; the Tanzanian team, led by Professor Mohamed Janabi; and the Israeli medical team from the Wolfson Medical Center (WMC) headed by Dr. Akiva Tamir and Dr. Sagi Assa.

Tanzania Mission - January 2018

Save a Child’s Heart has conducted another joint German-Israeli-Tanzanian Catheterization Mission in the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from January 20th until January 25th, 2018. This mission was only made possible thanks to support from both Ein Herz Für Kinder and Save a Child's Heart U.K.

During this mission, 15 children underwent treatment, more than 30 children were screened and diagnosed, and one critically-ill infant that could not be treated on the ground was flown to Israel just two weeks later for open-heart surgery. 

The medical team was comprised of: German physicians led by Professor Felix Berger, Director of the Clinic of Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology from our German partner hospital in Berlin, Deutsches Herzzentrum (DHZ); the Israeli medical team from the Wolfson Medical Center (WMC) headed by Dr. Sagi Assa, Head of Invasive Pediatric Cardiology; and our Tanzanian partners at JKCI, a hospital directed by Senior Cardiologist Professor Mohamed Janabi.

Zanzibar Mission - March 2018

Save a Child’s Heart has conducted another Screening Mission at the Mnazi Mmoja hospital in Zanzibar, from March 4th until March 8th, 2018. This mission was only made possible thanks to support from our sponsors from Save a Child’s Heart Canada. During this mission 318 Children were screened and many will soon need surgery in Israel.

This mission was executed by an all-woman medical team from Wolfson Medical Center, led by Dr. Alona Raucher Sternfeld along with head nurse, Nava Gershon and echo technician, Yifat Brosh. Dr. Omar Suleiman, the head of pediatric cardiology at Mnazi Mmoja hospital headed the Tanzanian medical team.

The medical team was visited by a very special guest during the mission! Zanzibar’s Minister of Health, Hamad Rashid Mohammed, spent a day at the hospital learning about the work of Save a Child’s Heart and showing his support.

He is determined to improve health care infrastructure on the Island for cardiac care and looks forward to working with Save a Child’s Heart to do it properly. The Minister is such a fan, in fact, that he invited the team to lunch on the way to the airport and insisted on escorting them to the airport to be sure they made it to their flight on time.

SACH's Medical Team and Staff In Israel

Medical team

Doctor Lior Sasson
Doctor Akiva Tamir
Doctor Sion Houri
Prof. Tiberiu Ezri

Staff Israel

Simon Fisher
Executive Director

Ronni Erlich Gal
Deputy Executive Director

Tamar Shapira
Director of International & Public Relations

Anna Kos
International Young Leadership Director

Sarah Nevo
Office Manager

Iris Kamenev
Young Leadership Coordinator

Laura Kafif
House mother

Dr. Wafiq Othman
Palestinian Program Coordinator

Dawn Mizrachi
Medical Secretary

Fatima Sarsour
Palestinian Families Coordinator