FAQ

CURE was founded by Dr. Scott Harrison, an orthopedic surgeon, and his wife, Sally, in response to the great physical and spiritual needs of children they witnessed during a visit to Malawi. In 1996, after Scott wrapped up his tenure as president of a hospital medical group, he and Sally pursued their work with CURE full-time. The first hospital was launched in Kijabe, Kenya, in 1998. Though the ministry has grown significantly under God’s hand since that time, our mission to heal the sick and proclaim God’s kingdom has never changed.

Learn more about our history.

CURE currently owns and operates a network of eight charitable children’s hospitals—seven in Africa and one in the Philippines.

Learn more about our hospitals.

CURE operates eight charitable children’s hospitals in:

• Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Kijabe, Kenya
• Blantyre, Malawi
• Niamey, Niger
• Davao City, Philippines
• Mbale, Uganda
• Lusaka, Zambia
• Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Explore our hospitals.

Everything we do is rooted in God’s call to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:2)

CURE shares the good news of Jesus Christ, in both word and deed, with every patient and family we treat. We do this inside hospital walls through bedside ministry, along with times of Bible study, worship, and prayer. Our ministry extends outside hospital walls through community outreach as we partner with local churches, train pastors and Christian leaders, and find and serve children and families on the margins of society.

Learn more about how CURE shares the hope of Christ with the families and communities we serve.

No. CURE provides surgical care for children at no cost to families, regardless of their race, tribe, economic status, or religion. In every country where we serve, our pastoral teams minister with sensitivity to each family’s cultures, customs, and beliefs. Where doors are open to sharing the gospel message, we walk through them. Where they are not, we love and serve in Jesus’s name.

Learn more about how we do ministry outreach.

Because we believe medical healing and spiritual ministry are two sides of the same coin, CURE is committed to bringing physical, emotional, and spiritual healing to those in our care.

We share the gospel in both word and deed with every child and family under our care through Bible study, counseling, prayer, and one-on-one bedside ministry.

In addition, our ministry teams conduct outreaches to share the gospel and offer Christ-centered care during mobile clinics and school visits.

Learn more about how we share—and live out—the gospel at CURE.

Yes, CURE partners with local churches, church networks, and pastors in the countries where we serve. We do this in a number of ways, including:

• Educating pastors and church leaders through our Theology of Disability training, which equips them to love and care for the disabled community, undo the stigma associated with disability, and identify and refer children to CURE hospitals for treatment
• Partnering with churches that refer patients to CURE and provide follow-up discipleship once patients return to their communities

Learn more about ministry and outreach at CURE.

Partnering with local hospitals, medical providers, and ministries of health is one way CURE helps strengthen local healthcare in the countries where we serve. Some of the ways we partner include:

• Partnering with local ministries of health and district health offices to educate on prevention, education, identification, and referral services for children with treatable disabilities
• Providing clinical training for local healthcare workers
• Advising on best practices within healthcare

In the eight countries where CURE serves, we estimate that 9 million children are needlessly suffering from treatable disabilities. They lack access to the surgical care they desperately need—and it impacts their lives in devastating ways.

Did you know: 

• 90 percent of children with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries are unable to attend school,
• less than 10 percent of people with disabilities are reached with the gospel, and
• children with disabilities are often rejected and stigmatized by their own communities.

Learn more about the need for surgery in places where we serve.

Globally, millions of children with surgically treatable conditions do not have access to the care they urgently need. As part of our commitment to see every child have access to the life-changing surgeries they need, our future plans include the expansion of CURE’s network of charitable children’s hospitals into new countries.

Our immediate focus, as dictated by our current strategic plan, first calls for maximizing (and doubling!) the number of children we can serve within our existing hospitals.

Learn more about CURE’s strategic plan for growth.

While the hospitals vary by size, each has between 24 and 59 beds in the children’s wards and, on average, three operating rooms. Our hospitals have laundry facilities, playgrounds, kitchen and dining facilities, outpatient departments, long-term stay hostels, and chapels.

Learn more about our hospitals.

Read page 15 in our annual report to see the operating expenses of each hospital.

CURE children’s hospitals are a permanent presence within the communities—and the countries—where we serve. There are many ways the families we serve learn about CURE, but three main ones are:

• Local partnerships. We are well-known among, and often partner with, local healthcare organizations and ministries. They refer children to our hospitals.
• Local media channels. All our hospitals spread the word about our sponsored medical care via social media channels, radio and billboard ads, and other local initiatives.
• Outreach. CURE medical and ministry teams travel by foot, car, plane, and even boat to find and serve children living in the most remote regions of the countries where we serve.

Meet some of the children whose lives have been transformed at CURE.

Every surgery at CURE is followed by intentional aftercare that includes physical therapy, mobility and assistive device fitting, and regular follow-up appointments to ensure the best outcomes for the children we treat.

Learn more about what happens after surgery at CURE.

Every CURE hospital provides world-class surgical and intentional ministry care to children, at no cost to families, because of our generous donors worldwide. Six of our hospitals in Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) and our hospital in the Philippines specialize in both orthopedic and plastic/reconstructive surgeries. CURE Uganda specializes in treating children with neurological conditions like hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and brain tumors.

Read the complete list of conditions we treat.

Yes. The medical professionals who serve with CURE participate in academic research within their surgical specialties.

Explore research CURE doctors have participated in at CURE hospitals.

The majority (97 percent) of the surgeons and medical staff at CURE hospitals are highly trained and skilled nationals. Medical missionaries do serve within our hospitals on short- and long-term stints to help maintain staffing levels when full-time surgeons go on leave or to provide specialized services when needed.

While the majority of surgeons at CURE hospitals are full-time and live in-country, we do have skilled medical volunteers from around the world who serve for short periods of time (one to two weeks).

CURE provides surgical care for patients up to age 18. Care may extend beyond age 18 for those patients with conditions that require monitoring into adulthood. We do provide lodging and meals for children we serve and one parent/caregiver.

Read about the children whose lives have changed because of CURE, and learn more about the conditions we treat.

Surgeries range in cost due to many factors, including complexity, recovery time, assistive devices, and country of service. Surgeries with faster recovery times and fewer operating room hours can cost approximately $1,000. Other more complex surgeries, like neurosurgeries, average $2,000. Some patients do need multiple surgeries as part of their comprehensive treatment plan.

Any and every gift to CURE, no matter how big or small, helps make life-changing surgeries possible for children in need. Read more about sponsoring a surgery here.

When you sponsor a surgery, a CURE representative will match you with a child who has been screened and scheduled for the surgery you choose to sponsor. Normally, this process takes between one and three weeks.

When you sponsor a surgery, your gift covers everything from screenings, surgery, nutrition support, physical therapy, and Christ-centered ministry care. By logging into your donor portal, you can see real-time updates and receive email notifications about the child undergoing the type of surgery you have sponsored.

Learn more about how to sponsor a surgery.

Yes. CURE is a top-rated charity committed to fiscal responsibility and accountability. An independent CPA firm audits us annually, and we are in good standing with organizations such as Candid, give.org, Charity Navigator, Excellence in Giving, and the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

Learn more and view our most recent annual report.

CURE is a top-rated charity committed to fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability. An independent CPA firm audits us annually, and we are in good standing with organizations such as Candid, Excellence in Giving, Charity Navigator, and the ECFA.

On average, more than 80 percent of each dollar goes directly toward supporting CURE’s medical and ministry programs and activities.

Click here to view our most recent annual report.

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We would love to hear from you and are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Phone: (616) 512-3105
Email: [email protected]

Address:

70 Ionia Ave SW, Suite 200
Grand Rapids, MI 49503

For questions about donations to CURE:

Phone: (616) 512-3104
Email: [email protected]