Little Hearts Travelling to Kosovo in September

Leading UK charity, Muntada Aid announces its flagship project, Little Hearts, is travelling to Kosovo for the first time to help children with heart defects. The Little Hearts team of doctors, nurses and medical professionals aim to carry out 45 – 50 vital heart procedures from 17th – 24th September from the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo which is based in Pristina.

Kabir Miah, Little Hearts Programmes Manager at Muntada Aid, commented, "Due to only gaining independence in 2008 the infrastructure for health is still being developed in Kosovo and unfortunately this means there is a long waiting list of children suffering from congenital heart defects which is why we are so pleased to be able to take Little Hearts to the country for the first time.

The team will be working hard with the hospital staff in Pristina to ensure we can help as many children as possible during our time in Kosovo.”

Little Hearts is Muntada Aid’s flagship project and was launched in April 2012. The charity provides free life-saving heart surgeries to children with congenital heart defects from underprivileged backgrounds irrespective of gender, race or religion. Since 2012, it has carried out 44 missions in 13 countries and performed over 2,600 cardiac interventions and surgeries saving thousands of lives.

The charity has assembled a team of volunteer cardiologists, surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and other medical professionals for this mission who will arrive in Kosovo this weekend. They will be operating on children from Monday 18th Sept and aim to treat a minimum of 45- 50 children.

Kabir Miah, Little Hearts Programmes Manager at Muntada Aid, commented, "Due to only gaining independence in 2008 the infrastructure for health is still being developed in Kosovo and unfortunately this means there is a long waiting list of children suffering from congenital heart defects which is why we are so pleased to be able to take Little Hearts to the country for the first time.

The team will be working hard with the hospital staff in Pristina to ensure we can help as many children as possible during our time in Kosovo.”

An estimated 1. 5 million children are each year born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) globally. 10% of babies born with CHD do not survive their first year of life. 1000s more die and don't reach adulthood. In poor underdeveloped countries, the lack of specialised medical infrastructure means babies born with congenital heart defects have little or no access to necessary treatment.