Children hosted in Belgium

Each year, 8 to 15 children are hosted in Belgium to undergo the necessary treatments to their recovery.

Applications for these children are studied by a specialised medical committee, on the base of a full medical report.

For the application to be accepted, various standards have to be fullfilled; these are related to the pathology, the age of the child, and what access to specialised medical treatment exist in the issuing country.

Following the agreement of the Belgian authorities (SPF Interieur – Foreign Bureau – Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Embassies) the Chaine de l’Espoir Belgium will then organise the stay in Belgium.

Types of Pathology

Chaine de l’Espoir Belgium’s main target are children suffering from pathologies and congenital malformations in the following area: heart, orthopedic, ORL, digestive, urological and neurological.

Prevalence of Heart Treatments

The most frequent requests for treatment are for children suffering from heart pathologies.

Effectively, the complex operating technics as well as the strict post-operative follow-up involve medical equipment and infrastructures with severe security and hygiene standards which often are non-existant in developing countries.

Travelling

Travelling Children are accompanied by voluntary conveyors from a partner association : “Aviation Sans Frontières”.

Staying with Host Families

Children stay in Belgium for a period of 4 to 8 weeks, and live with voluntary host families, who look after them and take care of their material and emotional requirements.