Children's Surgery International (CSI)

Children’s Surgery International provides free pediatric medical and surgical services, along with professional education and training, to communities in need around the world.

Our vision is to reduce global health care disparities by helping communities obtain the knowledge, skills and tools to provide life-changing surgical and medical care for children.

Our goal is sustainability. We build partnerships with local hospitals and conduct surgical trips to some of the poorest regions of the world. We partner with our host communities to provide life-changing surgery plus professional training, education and support to surgeons, nurses and other caregivers so they can learn to perform the procedures independently.

We’ve resumed traveling and are embracing some of the pivots we made during the pandemic. 

So far in 2022, we’ve completed two trips to our partners in Mexico where our teams performed life-changing surgery for nearly 80 children, all while maintaining strict Covid safety protocols. 

In May 2022, a small, targeted team of eight returned to Ethiopia to work collaboratively to offer training and surgical care. Building on previous training, our partner surgeons had completed 100 cleft operations since our last visit in 2019. Even more exciting, they achieved accreditation for their ENT residency program, only the third of its kind in all of Ethiopia.  

We have a team in Tanzania presently, November 10-17, working with and training our partners at Arusha Lutheran in specialized pediatric ENT and urology surgeries.  

We are actively planning for trips to Tanzania, Liberia, Ethiopia and Mexico in 2023.

The need continues to grow. 

The reality of restricted humanitarian travel during the pandemic has created an even greater need in these underserved communities. Hundreds of kids at each location are waiting for life-changing surgery, waiting for a chance. Our partners need our on-site support, teaching and collaboration now more than ever.

Donations support our surgical trips, including expenses for medications, supplies and equipment. We have six trips planned in 2023, with teams ranging from 12 to 20 volunteers. With the cost of everything increasing worldwide, so too is the cost of our trips. The expected average cost of a CSI trip in 2023 is $65,000. 

Your gift today positions CSI to be ready to meet the growing need, working side by side with the doctors, nurses, families and communities we serve.

Give to the Max!