Friends of Kardias

Kardias enables highly specialized centers in Mexico

For care of children born with congenital heart defects, through the development of sustainable, transparent and recognized programs to guarantee access to excellent medical care, focused on integral patient’s well-being.

3500 +

Surgeries

80 +

Catheterizations

40 +

Doctors trained in high specialty

86200 +

Hours dedicated to teaching and research

32520 +

Hours of medical work in diagnosis and programming

73620 +

Hours of medical work in the operating room

What does it mean to be born with a heart defect?

A Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) means a child is born with an abnormally structured heart and/or large vessels that affect the normal way the heart works.
In Mexico it is estimated that every year, twenty-one thousand children are born with heart defects. Only 6,500 of them receive or have access to any kind of treatment, which in most cases is suboptimal.
One in every 120 children is born with heart disease worldwide. Each year, 1.3 million children are born with a congenital heart defect, and 93% of them are born in a country that cannot care for them.

Sources: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Gift of Life International

Implications for the sick children and their families:

Children born with heart defects that go untreated or are not treated in a timely manner suffer:

Long-term physiological damage

Shortened life-expectancy

Learning disabilities

Impaired brain development

Traumatizing emotional distress

For the family of the child, being born with a heart malfunction has many consequences:​

Social and economic implications for the entire family.

The physical and mental health of parents and siblings is affected.

Living with uncertainty, conflict, and tremendous personal, medical, and family issues.