As part of our long-standing sponsorship of La Chaîne de l’Espoir, Philippe Le Poupon, Vice President of Proludic, and Jean-Marie Freyling, Marketing Manager, traveled to Madagascar from June 16 to 20, 2025, to witness the impact of the initiatives supported by our company.
For four days, they shared the daily lives of the medical and community teams working to save children with heart defects.
An operating room of excellence to restore hope to children
At the heart of their visit: the CENHOSOA (Soavinandriana Hospital Center) located in Antananarivo, where a surgical unit was completely rehabilitated and equipped in 2024 thanks to the support of La Chaîne de l’Espoir and its partners. This space, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and meeting the highest hygiene standards, has been the nerve center for open-heart surgeries for the past year in optimal conditions, guaranteeing patient safety.
Around this unit, an entire ecosystem was established last June, with an exceptional medical-surgical and logistics team made up of volunteers from La Chaîne de l’Espoir and Malagasy professionals.
Surgeon, anesthesiologist, pediatric cardiologist, biomedical engineer, nurses, logisticians… around thirty people – from the university hospitals of Nantes, Bordeaux, Nancy and Reunion Island – have combined their skills with the CENHOSOA team to carry out delicate operations in a spirit of solidarity and transmission.
Philippe Le Poupon and Jean-Marie Freyling were able to immerse themselves in this humanitarian chain that was set up for each intervention and attended the debriefings that closed each day and allowed the team to analyze the operations carried out together.
Meeting Families
This visit also provided an opportunity to discover the remarkable work carried out both before and after treatment by the NGO’s Madagascar office and by the hospital’s healthcare staff. Philippe Le Poupon and Jean-Marie Freyling visited the hospital’s rooms and met with stakeholders. They witnessed the pre-operative phases, the children’s care, and the support provided to their families. They attended pediatric consultations with children who had already undergone surgery, during which a complete medical assessment was conducted.
They were able to appreciate the importance of La Chaîne de l’Espoir’s work in a country where heart disease is often diagnosed late in childhood and where beliefs and fears still persist surrounding medical care.
The Importance of Supporting Families and Healthcare Personnel
The trip also provided an opportunity to visit the Anyma Social Center, a hospice created by religious leaders and a collective of Malagasy healthcare professionals. A true place of solidarity, it accommodates families from Madagascar’s provinces during the operation, and then children throughout their post-operative follow-up. This hospice is an essential link in the care pathway.
Our representatives were also able to speak with the La Chaîne de l’Espoir office in Madagascar to learn about other initiatives that underpin the organization of these operations: from training programs for general practitioners, pediatricians, and cardiologists in Madagascar’s regions to improve screening and referral for heart disease, to awareness-raising programs on oral hygiene among children and communities (directly linked to the onset of certain heart conditions).
A Meaningful Commitment
During their stay, six operations were successfully performed. Each child’s recovery confirmed the value of collective efforts.
Our Vice President testified:
“We truly delved into the mysteries of humanitarianism. These are multiple commitments, at all levels, with a single objective: to save children. The effectiveness is remarkable, and the amounts donated are maximized. We observed great cohesion within the teams and a strong desire to pass on their skills to Malagasy surgeons and medical staff.”
This visit confirms that our patronage is not limited to financial support: it is part of a humane and sustainable approach, focused on the future of children and the transmission of medical knowledge.
