CHFE Overview

The Children's Heart Fund of Ethiopia is a charitable, non-governmental and specialized organization committed to healing children with heart diseases.

The Heart of the matter is the prevalence of congenital heart diseases, acquired and rheumatic, among children in Ethiopia, and the purpose of the Children's heart Fund of Ethiopia is to save the lives of children at risk of these problems all over Ethiopia, where the incidence of paediatric heart diseases is alarmingly high; yet cardiac surgery facilities are not available and affordable.

The Children's Heart Fund of Ethiopia is addressing itself to a problem that is beyond the country's health system and individual parents. In doing this CHFE has always been reliant on the goodwill of its trusties both within and outside the country.

Partners and associates of CHFE all over the world have covered the costs of the medical treatment and overseas accommodation of about 50 children who needed to go abroad for Cardiac surgery with their escorts/parents every year. 

Moreover, teams of heart specialists have come and done closed and open heart surgery healing an average of 70 children every year. 

CHFE is intending to build on local capacity of space, technology and knowledge to increase the number of paediatric cardiac cases that are treated locally.  To this end, CHFE has formally signed an affiliation agreement with the Addis Ababa University, School of Medicine.  It has already secured sufficient plot of land in the premises of the Black Lion Hospital for the Construction, Equipment and Institutionalization of a Children's Cardiac Unit and has started building this Cardiac Centre. At present the Cardiac Centre is in its completion stage.

• The Children's Heart Fund of Ethiopia has curative, preventive and developmental objectives. In order to win these objectives CHFE undertake several activities:

• Locating sponsors for the treatment, accommodation and transportation costs of children to have a cardiac surgery abroad;

• Coordinating voluntary medical teams coming to Ethiopia to render treatment including cardiac surgery;

• Increasing public awareness about Rheumatic Heart Diseases;

• Seeking Equipment for the diagnosis, surgical management and follow up of cardiac patients.