WOW! Our biggest year ever! All of this incredible growth in the midst of a pandemic and coup d’etat. This deserves a special thanks to our creative and hardworking leadership of Mali–Dr. Diallo!

590 PATIENTS helped this year for a total budget of $37,349.77

Diolia site: 233 patient encounters for a total expense of $3,895.22

Bamako site: 357 patients $33,454.55

Covered hospital days: 3008!

Average age of patient: 6.7 yrs

155 patients were under age 5, including 27 newborns.

259 patients in medical and surgical services

98 patients  treated with our emergency pharmacy

56% (145 patients) General Pediatrics and Neonatology
8%  (21 patients) Pediatric oncology 
15% (38 patients) Pediatric Surgery
1% (3 patients) ENT
3% (7 patients) Trauma Surgery 

2% (6 patients) subspecialty services (neurosurgery, neurology, gastroenterology)

Hôpital du Mali (pediatrics) 14% soit (36 patients)
Hôpital du point G 1% (3 patients)

We also stocked the first full burn cart at the Children’s Hospital and covered the costs of PPE for the pediatric Oncology Unit.

Expenses since 1/2018

We are a virtually zero-overhead organization.  All money donated to Mali Medical Relief has gone to direct patient care.  Mali Medical Relief Fund is a 501(c)3 and all funds received will go directly to needy patients.  All of your donations are tax deductible.

Our organization is run on a volunteer basis and all funds received go directly to medical care, medicines and supplies.  Funds are accounted for and e-mails are sent to those who provide their address showing how the funds were spent and updated periodically here on our website.

Founded in 2008 with a simple email home, we have grown in size and impact 10 fold. From helping about 30 patients a year, we now help over 300!

Each and every day I am amazed what we are able to accomplish with so little in resources.  In the first 4 months of this year we have helped 71 patients receive emergent medical care at the national hospital. We are helping to save children’s lives everyday. Moreover, we help to save families from financial ruin by providing care at no cost to the patient.

Dr. Diallo and I attended a national conference this year to determine the next best steps for our growing organization. We hope to continue to expand our reach to help an increasing number of children.

Pictured above is Dr. Mark Travassos, Dr. Diallo, Dr. Barry, Dr. Sylla, and Trauma RN Mme Konate Maimouna Martine Kindo. Patient with mother (photo with permission)

Interventions that change lives

I recently met renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Andrew Howard from at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was speaking to a group of pediatricians at Shriner’s hospital in Spokane. One of the subjects he touched on was global health. What struck me was his emphasis on the importance of working in partnership with local physicians. Reliance on local resources is essential for projects to truly have a lasting impact. This really struck home with me, as we have always been committed to this ideal at Mali Medical Relief. I continue to be astounded by the amazing work we can do with so little. I hope you, our critical supporters are too. We are unique in how we rely exclusively on local expertise to run our organization. This means we help not only individual patients, but also the healthcare system by creating increased demand for technically advanced medical and surgical care. Our physicians can treat increasingly complex cases because we provide the support and resources to make them possible. When we first began nearly 10 years ago, I would never have imagined we would be helping patients with complex surgical needs. I am so proud of the work our team does, and incredibly humbled by the support provided by you, our donors.

This year several interventions stand out in my mind. First is a story of amazing perseverance. 12-year-old Kadiatou* is homeless after both her parents died. She was struck by a car this November and survived the impact. However, it left her with a broken right hip and ankle. Mali Medical Relief jumped in to help right away. Her hip and ankle have been repaired, and she is well on her way to full rehabilitation. The team is also working on helping to stabilize her home situation; truly taking care of the whole patient.

During our last site visit, representatives from the trauma unit were dismayed at how many amputations in pediatric patients they were seeing due to delayed treatment of compound fractures (open bone breaks). They pinpointed the source of the problem, a lack of available external fixation devices. We purchased two additional external fixation devices for the trauma unit to assist with limb sparing surgeries. These timely interventions are critical to prevent amputations and complications from infection.

Finally, we are reaching out to our NGO and government partners who care for pediatric cancer patients. These partners provide the standard chemotherapy for the disease. We were asked to help facilitate diagnostic and adjuvant treatment interventions. As I write, we have just accepted a new patient with neuroblastoma (6 yo boy) who needs additional diagnostic evaluation. These specialized interventions can substantially decrease morbidity and mortality related to pediatric leukemia and tumors.

Your support is essential to the work we do. Every dollar goes to directly fund patient care. Please consider donating to help sustain our ongoing activities. It truly means the world to us at Mali Medical Relief to be able to give hope to families in time of crisis. I welcome questions, suggestions, and ideas from everyone as we look to continue to grow and improve our operations.

With deep gratitude for your ongoing support,

Breanna Barger-Kamate

Founder and Board Chair

Ethel MacDonald Treasurer, Kendra Wiggins MD, Mark Travassos MD, Mamadou Sylla MD, Paul Kamate MD, Hamidou Diallo MD, Morgan Halvorson, Tom Barger web development.

Mali Medical Relief is beginning a new presence on the web by converting its site to Word Press.  We would like to invite all of our friends to make our presence known by liking and/or sharing our site.

We also want to remind everyone  of an Amazon campaign. If you shop with Amazon.com they will donate 0.5% of every purchase you make to Mali Medical Relief. Just select us as your charity of interest. It’s absolutely no cost to you!

Thank you for considering us in your charitable giving and happy spring!