Close to 6,000 children of Vincentians have so far benefited from medical assistance given by the World Pediatric Project (WPP) over the past decade, with more than 10 per cent receiving surgical procedures.
As of 2014, more than 5,791 children were seen by various visiting medical teams, with 735 receiving surgeries in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and another 130 receiving treatment in the United States.{{more}}
There are currently eight cases in the US.
This year, two more missions are set to visit from the United States: one team in September, and the other in November.
As part of the WPPâs capacity building initiative, three medical practitioners: Dr Beneka Browne-Ferdinand, staff nurse Latasha Lewis and nutritionist Nicole France are scheduled to travel to the St Louis, Missouri, for observership in the neonatal unit of the Cardinal Glennon Hospital.
The WPP has recently set up a base office in SVG, headed by chief development officer Simon Carey and assisted by Jacqueline Browne-King, the East Caribbean region representative.
The office would be involved in a number of fund-raising and awareness events over the upcoming months, starting with a charity event in September.
The WPP was established in 2001, with the goal of providing paediatric care services to children in the Caribbean region and Central America, and has been working closely with medical practitioners to achieve their objectives and develop programmes that improve local capacity in the skills of diagnosing and treating complex paediatric conditions.
Since 2002, visiting surgical and diagnostic teams have travelled to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital in SVG and have conducted evaluations and surgeries on young Vincentians and other children from the OECS, in the areas of urology, ophthalmology, cardiology, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, physical therapy, orthopedic surgery and general surgery.
The organization has also taken to social media, Facebook (World Pediatric Project SVG) Twitter (@WppSvg) and Instagram (worldpediatricprojectsvg).
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