ReSurge International’s largest year-round program in Africa is in Zambia, where we partner with the country’s only plastic surgeon. We send volunteer medical trips to Mali, while empowering Dr. Oumar Coulibaly to become that country's first plastic surgeon. ReSurge also provides surgeries year-round in Ghana and burn education in Malawi.

Ghana

Population: 23.35 million

Population living in poverty (below $1.25 per day): 30 percent

Productive years lost annually due to HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB: 857,594

Productive years lost annually due to fire burns: 923,197

Physicians per 10,000 people: 2

Number of plastic surgeons: Approximately 6

More than 742,000 births per year in Ghana result in 1,000 new clefts annually. Additionally, open cooking hearths and kerosene lamps in village homes are responsible for a large number of accidental fires. Unfortunately, there are only six trained plastic surgeons in the entire country. In response to the defined need, ReSurge established a Surgical Outreach Program in Kumasi, which provides year-round care to children and adults with clefts and burns. In addition, Ghana’s few plastic surgeons are eager for the kind of hands-on training provided by ReSurge’s visiting educator program. Ongoing workshops on advanced surgical techniques provide invaluable training to local plastic surgeons and are a core component of ReSurge’s presence in Ghana.

Mali

Population: 12.7 million

Population living in poverty (below $1.25 per day): 51 percent

Physicians per 10,000 people: < 1

Number of plastic surgeons: 0

ReSurge surgeries performed annually: 100

In Mali, there is only one physician for every 12,800 people and no reconstructive plastic surgeons. Nearly 17,000 people receive a severe burn each year and 775 babies are born with clefts annually. For the last four years, ReSurge International has sent teams to Bamako, Mali, to restore function and hope to those with disabling burns, clefts and other conditions repairable through reconstructive surgery. Through these trips, ReSurge met local physician Dr. Oumar Coulibaly, who hopes one day to become his country’s first pediatric plastic surgeon. With the help of generous donors, ReSurge is funding his pediatric surgery residence in Côte d'Ivoire to achieve that goal and to help build surgical capacity in Mali.

Zambia

Population: 12.62 million

Population living in poverty (below $1.25 per day): 64 percent

Number of plastic surgeons: 1

Average life expectancy: 45

ReSurge surgeries performed annually: 500

Extreme poverty and disease, especially HIV/AIDS, burden children with the work of adults, as many must take on the roles of provider and head of household for their younger siblings. Children in adult roles, often working and cooking in unsafe conditions, are more prone to accidents like disabling burns and hand injuries. ReSurge has been working in Zambia since the late 1990s with Dr. Goran Jovic, the country’s only plastic surgeon. ReSurge’s involvement has taken the form of volunteer medical team trips, visiting educator workshops and a Surgical Outreach Program. As the center’s director in Lusaka, Jovic mends clefts and releases the contractures caused by disabling burns—giving those patients the ability to walk or use their hands again.