La Chaîne de l'Espoir

La Chaîne de l’Espoir is an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) founded in 1994. Its mission is to strengthen health systems to give everyone, especially children, the same chances of survival and development. The NGO has been working in Afghanistan since the early 2000s. In 2005, it built the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC) in Kabul, a non-profit paediatric hospital, to provide high quality medical and surgical care for young patients. Since 2006, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has been responsible for the overall management of the FMIC, with La Chaîne de l'Espoir providing medical support and access to the most vulnerable populations. In 2016, the hospital expanded with the opening of gynaecology, obstetrics and neonatology services, becoming the French Medical Institute for Mother and Child (FMIC). Services for adults have also been developed in recent years.

The goal of La Chaîne de l’Espoir is to increase access to healthcare in particular for the most vulnerable afghans. To do so, La Chaîne de l’Espoir:

• Trains and supports the medical, paramedical and technical teams through short- and long-term volunteer missions;
• Provides free surgical treatment at FMIC and social care for the most vulnerable children and women coming from all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, and offers patients and their caretakers accommodation and food in the Women and Children House (WCH) for free.

The house has segregated common areas for men and women, private and shared rooms, a garden and a playroom.