« The destiny of the world civilisation depends upon providing a decent standard of living for all mankind. »
OUR mission
The Fondation Héron is committed to eliminating the lifetime suffering that comes from poor vision and audition and to providing underprivileged people in the world the opportunity to live a better life through improved sight and hearing.
TARGETED DEMOGRAPHIC
With experts from both the optical and auditive domains, the Fondation Héron seeks to provide an improved quality of life to the numerous individuals affected by such sensory impairments.
Hearing loss
460 MM people worldwide are affected by hearing loss. Of these, 34MM are children
80% of people with hearing loss live in low-to-middle income settings
Less than 1 in 40 (3%) have access to hearing aids worldwide.
Visual impairments
670 MM people worldwide are blind or vision impaired due to lack of eye examinations and treatments.
87% of affected people live in low-to- middle income settings
In Africa, 33 thousand per million people (3%), are visually impaired
80% of a child learning is visual
OUR OBJECTIVES AND COMMITMENTS
The Fondation Héron has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rwandan Government represented by the Ministry of Health. Both agreed to partner/collaborate to support disadvantaged people with vision and hearing disorders.
Our actions are based on the three pillars of prevention, support and partnerships.
Prevention
Raise awareness among young people regarding preventable auditive and visual disorders.
Participate in research and other relevant clinical activities to advance scientific knowledge and standards of infant care in accordance with internationally accepted practices.
Examine and Diagnose Vision and Hearing Disorders in Ngoma District School Children, but also refractive errors in alignment with the National Vision Health Strategic Plan.
Maintain international standards of patient care while respecting the local and cultural expectations of the host.
Support and intervention
Complete 2 to 3 missions a year to deliver optical and auditive care services in low-income settings.
Equip the ENT department and the audio centre of the Kibungo Reference Hospital and reinforce the training of the hospital staff to bring it to a functional and operational level.
Cases in schools requiring further investigation and management will be referred to the Kibungo Referral Hospital and, in the event of surgery, to the CHUK. These will be operated at the same time as the existing complex cases already identified to CHUCK. The Fondation Héron will also support CHUK in complex eye surgery, including oculoplastic, pediatrics, glaucoma, among others.
Partnerships
Maximize the positive impact of our initiatives by partnering with other foundations, as well as leveraging committed people and organisations with humanitarian experience.
