Heartbeat Vietnam

The program also provides the cost of pre-treatment and post-operative care for the heart children, including nutrition support, travel fees, health check-ups as well as scholarships so they can remain in school.
Congenital heart defects are the most common congenital disorder in newborns. Around 8-10 children out of 1000 live births are born with CHDs per year. Approximately, 16,000 children are born every year in Vietnam with CHDs and only half require treatments in cardiovascular hospitals. 25% of babies born with a complex CHD will not see their 1st birthday without corrective surgery.
Without prompt surgery or intervention, these children will suffer from poor quality of life and inadequate mental and physical development. Many children are never diagnosed and many will die waiting for help. Without treatment, 85% will perish before their 18th birthday.

Chronic diseases don’t observe the boundaries of geography or economics, but the treatments often do. In Vietnam, where many families earn only a few dollars per day, specialized pediatric health care is beyond their grasp. Many children with CHD are from families with low or unstable incomes in disadvantaged areas with little access to quality healthcare. It is important to support the child so that insurmountable financial and emotional burdens can be lifted off the entire household. Once the child is well; their caregivers, mostly mothers and sisters, can get an education and find jobs, and the family can become economically independent to thrive towards a better future.
With matching funds from provincial government organizations and insurance coverage, the cost for a donor to cover a child’s heart surgery through Heartbeat Vietnam is just 1,200 USD, one-third of the average total cost of the operation, 3,600 USD.